LIFE-FOOTSTEPS

My Augmented Reality Creation

2012-01-21T00:39:00.003+08:00

Ha! I've found out how the Science Museum brings their 3D dinosaurs to life by just pointing your iphone on a dinosaur pic. Well, I'm pretty sure that this is how they did it.

To view my own augmented reality creation app, you have to go to the iTunes store(sorry, only for iphones) and download this app : Aurasma Lite (it's free).

After downloading it to your iphone, point your iphone's camera to the below dragon pic, centre it and see what happens.

HAPPY, HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS DRAGON YEAR EVERYONE!

Now to just figure out how to do a 3D augmented reality image *scratch head*

Dinosaurs 3D !

2012-01-15T00:01:00.002+08:00

I was sourcing for some Dinosaurs apps for Eugene to install on my iphone when I came across an app for the Dinosaur Museum that we went earlier at the Science Centre.

I went to the 'Dinosaur Live' web page to find out what's it all about and read the below "

See a dinosaur come alive!*

Using the Dinos Live! iphone application, view augmented reality 3D dinosaurs launching from the images below! You can see the 3D pop-out effect right on your computer monitor, or download and print the images to view them on your desk or table.

Instructions:

Download the free app - Dinos Live! (from the App Store).
Find the appropriate image in the selection menu.
Focus your device on the image.
Watch a dinosaur come alive!

*Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone4, iPod Touch (4th generation) and iPad2.

Click on the images above to view them at full size (Remember, you can print them out before using your app to view the 3D effect on a flat surface like a table).

I downloaded the app and tried it and it works!

Wow, wow wow! It's amazing and Eugene was also fascinated by it.

The app allows you to take pics of the 3D effect.

Ok, maybe if you look at the pics, you'll know what I mean.

See Dinosaurs in my living room !

T-Rex

Amazing right?

STYRACOSAURUS

SPINOSAURUS

TYRANNOSAURUS

ORNITHOLESTES - TINY HUNTER

The dinosaurs are not 3D static. It moves and roars!

If you don't have the stickers for the app, no problem.

What I did was this :
(a) download the free app from itunes.
(b) the app have the pics of the dinosaurs for the 3D effect, so I print-screen the dinosaurs' pics on my iphone.
(c) download the dinosaurs pics from your iphone to your computer.
(d) open downloaded pics on your computer : the pics will have instructions on it, so just crop the pics of the dinosaur without the instructions.
(e) print out the pics and you're done!

I'm really fascinated by the technology : that is how they can program in such a way that you just have to aim your app at the piece of paper and you have a pop-up dinosaur.

See to believe it! It's really amazing!

Eugene, The SINGER

2011-12-30T14:02:00.000+08:00

08 December 2011

I think he's got a very good ear for music.

Eugene, The Waiter

2011-12-30T14:00:00.000+08:00

02 December 2011

Eugene playing "Waiter".

I find it very amusing to play make-believe games with him :)

A Moving Masterpiece @ Singapore Expo 2011

2011-12-29T21:21:00.004+08:00

29 December 2011

Extracted from Wikipedia :

Along the River During the Qingming Festival (清明上河图; Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú) is a panoramic painting by Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145).

It captures the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng.

The theme celebrates the festive spirit and worldly commotion at the Qingming Festival, rather than the holiday's ceremonial aspects, such as tomb sweeping and prayers.

The entire piece was painted in hand scroll format and the content reveals the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as different economic activities in rural areas and the city.

It offers glimpses of period clothing and architecture.

As an artistic creation, the piece has been revered and court artists of subsequent dynasties have made several re-interpretive replicas. The painting is also known for its geometrically accurate images of variety natural elements and architectures, boats and bridges, market place and stores, people and scenery.

Digital version

For a three month period in the World Expo 2010 presented at the China Pavilion, the painting was remade into an 3D animated, viewer-interactive digital version, titled River of Wisdom, about 30 times the size of the original scroll.

The computer animated mural, with moving characters and objects and portraying the scene in 4-minute day to night cycles, was one of the primary exhibitions in the Chinese Pavilion, drawing queues up to two hours with a reservation. Elaborate computer animation gives life to in the painting.

See the fantastic animations below. Pardon the shaky video.

The animated scroll is huge and long. It is truly amazing. I was so mesmerized by it.
I felt that I was been transported back to that Song Dynasty era.

Don't miss it! It is truly worth a visit!

A Moving Masterpiece

The Song Dynasty As Living Art

International Premiere of the Animated QING MING SHANG HE TU

7 Dec'2011 - 6 Feb'2012

Hall 3 at Singapore EXPO

Chicken Tikka Masala

2011-12-27T16:28:00.001+08:00

I've always got a fondness for Indian food and really loves eating their curries and dahl with naan.

But have always been intimidated by all the different spices to add.

But I decided to try to make an Indian dish at least once. And so here goes.

I pounded the fennel seeds as fine as I could as I couldn't find any in powdered form.

I guess one could most probably find it in 'Mustafa' but am just too lazy to go all the way there just to get a packet of it.

Recipe from : Indian Simmer. She's got wonderful recipes for Indian food and great, great food pics.

Ingredients:

For Chicken Tikka:
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into cubes)
1 tsp Kashmiri red pepper powder (This is a red pepper which is not very hot but gives a beautiful color. But you can also use cayenne pepper if you can't find it)
1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 cup yogurt (any fat % is fine)
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp red food color (optional)
Salt

For the tomato sauce:
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (pureed)
1 tbsp garlic paste (I prefer fresh but you can use store bought too)
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp onion powder (optional)
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp powdered black pepper
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp powdered fennel seeds
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped cilantro (for garnish)
Salt

Method:
For Chicken Tikka:
Mix all the dry ingredients into the mixture of yogurt and lemon juice to prepare a marinade.
Add chicken pieces into the marinade.
Mix everything well. Cover the bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour. I did it overnight.
Thread the chicken pieces onto the skewers.
Grill the skewered chicken until done or pop it into the oven for 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 400 deg. F (205 deg. C)

For the Masala:
Pour oil in a thick bottom pan. Add ginger garlic paste.Turn on the heat and let the paste slowly cook as the oil heats up. This perfumes the oil and also your house!
When the oil is hot, add onion, coriander, fennel, black pepper powder and garam masala. Mix it all together.
Add tomato puree and mix it very well with all the spices. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the sauce starts reducing and the excess water evaporates. Stir occasionally scraping the bottom.
Add cooked chicken pieces along with the drippings if cooked in an oven and cream. Mix it all together and let it simmer for another 5-7 minutes.
Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and let it sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. My mom always says that letting the Indian curry sit for a few minutes before serving helps all the spices do wonders!
Garnish with some chopped cilantro and serve with nann, roti or rice pulao.

I added peas instead of cilantro to add some colour to the dish.

I would say it tasted quite good for a first try.

I couldn't put too much chilli as hubby is unable to take too spicy stuff and also I wanted Eugene to try it too.

Well, we finished the dish with some wraps I had bought from the supermarket :)

Presents from Santa

2011-12-25T16:05:00.000+08:00

Of cos, the kid believed that Santa came to his home and gave him the presents.

He even slept extra early X'mas eve as we told him that Santa won't come if he's awake, ha ha.

He was fascinated with the "Thomas Big Loader' which he saw on Youtube and requested this for his Christmas present from Santa.

My bro's 3 kids bought for Eugene the below. So sweet of them! Thanks guys!

Eugene actually prefer 'Bob The Builder' but it seems that dear BOB is not so popular here. Can't really seem to find 'BOB' stuff.

Birthday @ Casa Latina

2011-12-20T15:55:00.001+08:00

I had wanted a big birthday party (yes, my kakis, you know why har) but as the time drew closer, I just wanted a quiet sit down dinner. Guess as you get older, you prefer 'peace'.

Hubby asked where I want to go for my birthday. I googled and decided on 'Casa Latina' as the reviews' good and said that this is the most authentic Mexican restaurant you can find in Singapore.

Appetizer : Ceviche Estilo (Shrimps or fish cooked with tomatoes, onion, coriander and fresh chillies)

We shared this. I liked it. Nice and refreshing.

Chilli Poblano Soup (Made with Poblano pepper, it is often served in Mexican weddings and special occasions)

I liked this too. Not heavy with hints of pepper.

Las Carnitas (Little Meats) - A fiesta food done in Michoacán-style cooking comprising Pork confit served with corn tortillas and special Mexican sauce.
Hubby had this for his main course. Shredded pork was dry and tough, blah...

Pozole Rojo (Hearty Mexican Stew) -Traditional pre-Columbian stew made of pork stock, guajillo chillies, red radish, onion, oregano, dry chillies, lime and lettuce.
I had the stew. What a let down. It was not awful but it wasn't fantastic. I think they used the same kind of shredded pork in this stew. Blah again...

The most delicious item we liked were the nachos chips which they served with 2 kinds of dip - one the usual salsa dip and another dip which was black in colour - delicious.

Maybe we should have stuck to the common dishes like the Quesadilla and Enchiladas but since the reviews were raving that this is as authentic as you can get, we wanted to try the real Mexican food of cos!

Maybe we are 'suakoos' and this is the real taste but we didn't really like the main course that we had.

CASA LATINA
42 Waterloo Street
Singapore 187951
Email: info@casalatina.com.sg
Tel: 6884 6929

We took a walk to the City Hall MRT station. Along the way, there was this huge bike at the NTUC building and Eugene insisted on sitting on it.

CHIJMES was along the way and we headed there for an ice-cream treat for the kid (hey, I thought it was suppose to be my birthday?)

The kid had most of the chocolate ice-cream.

Wow, the chocolate ice-cream was so good, it's like eating cold chocolate. That's how thick it was.

Don't know the name of this ice-cream parlour but I think it's the only ice-cream joint there.

As you get more mature (let's not use the word 'old'), you realise that nothing beats having your family with you.

Merry Christmas to Everybody too!

Dinosaurs Play

2011-12-19T15:39:00.000+08:00

Some of the toy dinosaurs that we bought before going to the Dinosaurs Live at the Science Centre.

We got this book at a flea market and it comes with a large map and some dinosaurs too!

The kid's been asking to go to the Dinosaure museum again and we most probably will before it ends in February.

Fire Tornado & Water-Play @ Science Centre (2)

2011-12-18T15:26:00.003+08:00

15 December 2011

Walle is so cute!

Awesome!

See the Fire Tornado video below...

So much fun at the Water-Play...

Dinosaurs-Live ! @ Science Centre (1)

2011-12-18T12:06:00.001+08:00

15 December 2011

The only dinosaur's name I know is the T-Rex, from Jurassic Park, oh and also Raptors.

The rest, the names are xxxxxx-saurus - well, they all seem to end in something something 'saurus'.

Raptors

Eugene was scared of this huge croc.

The kid looking a little apprehensive here....

Mommy, can you take the pic fast! I don't like being so close.

I would have liked to read the information that's there about the dinosaurs but with the kid running here and there, it was kind of difficult and losing him will be easy as the place's pretty dim.

The kid likes dinosaurs and now he can see how big they can be. We borrowed some books on dinosaurs from the library and he's been asking the names of the different kind of dinosaurs.

Hubby told him and he knows some of the names now and can pronounce them very well - like the 'triceratops', which dinosaurs eats plants - the 'mamenchisaurus.

So he's been going out and carrying his dinosaurs with him - his latest 'favourite' - for this week.

Thomas, Bob The Builder, Angelina @ United Square

2011-12-16T17:31:00.002+08:00

14 December 2011

Eugene really enjoyed his Bob-The-Builder at Millenia Walk earlier in the year and so brought him to see it again.

Don't know why he kept sticking out his tongue when taking pics.

I don't want to see your tongue boy!

Barney, Fireman Sam, Pingu @ United Square

2011-12-16T17:17:00.001+08:00

12 December 2011

What to do with the kid during the holidays ? Unable to travel out of S'pore due to personal reason and so decided to head to the malls that were having free shows.

Eugene's not into Barney and prefers Fireman Sam.

Seems Fireman Sam's not very popular.

Barney got the biggest applause.

Bumped into one of Eugene's classmate and his mom.

Here's Eugene with J. J's mom's (in black T) behind them.

Eugene seemed to start to have an interest in Thomas The Tank Enginge - though his 1st love is still Bob The Builder.

Pa-In-Law's Birthday

2011-12-11T23:55:00.000+08:00

10 December 2011

Oooh, that cake looks good!

Cut a bigger piece for me!

So delicious. I love chocolate mousse cake!

Back To School Fair 2011 @ Toa Payoh Central

2011-12-08T23:47:00.000+08:00

09 December 2011

Free colouring.

A kid ambassador narrating a story to Eugene.

Making finger puppets with help from the kid ambassador.

Eugene chose to make a Frog Finger Puppet.......

Coincidentally, he was also wearing a froggy t-shirt ...

croak.... croak......

Must Get All A !

2011-12-05T17:45:00.000+08:00

This skit was done by Indians but this is so typical of Asian parents.

Watch till the end - it's hilarious!

In asian family:
A = Acceptable
B = Bad
C = Crap
D = Death

X'mas Tree @ Maybank

2011-11-25T17:35:00.000+08:00

Was passing by Maybank and Eugene saw this X'mas tree on their premises and insisted on taking a closer look.

Botanic Gardens - again

2011-11-20T17:30:00.000+08:00

16 November 2011

Eugene likes water-falls

This turtle kept coming towards Eugene - most probably thought it's gonna be fed.

X'mas Tree @ HDB Hub

2011-11-16T17:01:00.000+08:00

15 November 2011

Passport Size Photo

2011-11-15T15:56:00.002+08:00

We have to submit a passport size photo to register for Eugene's new nursery class next year.

And I decided to shoot him .

As any of you parents know, how hard it is to get your kid to just stand still and get a proper shot.

Look at his monkeying around, and all of these shots ............

just to get one proper one .......................

The Contractor Boy

2011-11-07T15:50:00.001+08:00

Eugene loves "Bob The Builder" and loves to try to do all those building stuff.

When hubby repairs things around the house, the kid will follow him and see what hubby does.

Seeing Eugene's ernest look on his face, hubby let him try to plaster the gaps in between the toilet tiles.

So serious har......

Eugene was absolutely thrilled. See his serious face? He felt so important.

I asked him to smile and pose for me but he refused - this is serious work you know, not some modelling job :(

Of cos, hubby have to smoothen it out when the kid's done.

Good job! Don't worry, I'm sure daddy will be more than happy to leave you all the "construction" thingy to you in the future.

Eugene's very own Computer

2011-10-30T15:40:00.000+08:00

23 October 2011

Yep, the kid's got his own computer.

This small notebook is a freebie when we recontracted our Starhub cable a while back.

Eugene is adept at using the mouse and so we bought a mini mouse for him as ours was kind of big for his fingers to wrap around.

He's using it to manoeuvre the "Starfall" website which we have subscribed to.

Stick, Stick

2011-10-27T15:33:00.000+08:00

18 October 2011

Eugene stuck stickers on daddy's back

The stickers were from the calender on my desk.

Doll House

2011-10-26T15:27:00.000+08:00

02 October 2011

I was reading one of the post from "Our Baby of Love" and realised that Eugene got a similar doll house (or is it the same? looks the same to me) - just that the roof is of differen colour.

Hi, parents of Darius - yes, Eugene likes playing with the doll house and he likes to play "kitchen" too ! :)

Grandma's Birthday

2011-10-25T15:11:00.001+08:00

1 October 2011

Ok, it's been awhile since I had posted anything. As I've said, no mood lah.

But seeing so many stuff to blog down, think I had better start before the year is over.

Even though it's now December but I'll blog the post according to the months that it happened - this is for my own record.

So first up is my mom's birthday.

Eugene waiting to blow out the candle (yes, so long it's a cake with candles, he'll want to blow it)

Why 2 cakes? one is from my mom's colleagues and one is from my sis-in-law (the mango one)

My dad - the best dad. Quiet, proud and very responsible.

The 4 pics below was shot by Eugene!

No. 3 - the youngest - a mischievous monkey

No.2 - so different - quiet and studious

No. 1 - the eldest - the sportsman

The 3 grandsons pooled their money and bought my mom a handbag. Aww.... so sweet......

Brain Freeze

2011-10-21T16:18:00.000+08:00

............. yes, that's right, Brain Freeze.

Just in a lazy mood, too lazy to blog about anything......... just no mood .........

I promise I'll be back soon.

Till then...........

Lantern Festival @ Toa Payoh Garden

2011-09-20T15:40:00.000+08:00

10 September 2011

Organised by the RC.

We got a goodie bag which consisted of a plastic lantern, a small moon-cake, a set of stainless steel spoon and chopsticks and a bottle of water.

There was a long queue for the pop-corn so we didn't bother. But we got a potong ice-cream for Eugene.

We had actually brought our own lanterns. I bought the paper ones where you have to light a candle to put inside the lantern. Wah, I really cannot stand those plastic ones with light bulb and irritating music (more like noise).

Well, was Eugene interested in carrying the lantern ?

NO............

He was more interested in the below.........

This gazebo was very popular with the kids, not so much becos of the lanterns but becos the kids were enjoying themselves lighting up candles to place around the gazebo.

Eugene just wanted to blow the candles and this nice gal was nice enough to keep lighting up a candle for Eugene to blow.

All the kids in a row.

We would have stayed longer but it started drizzling and then it got heavier and so we decide to leave.

Chinese Lessons

2011-09-16T16:40:00.003+08:00

I've decided to terminate Eugene's chinese lessons end of this year (fees paid till end of this year).

Why?

- the children are been taught new topics every week (once a week lesson).

A booklet of what have been taught that day will be given, including the flash cards being used - so that the parents can revised with the kids at home.

When they return the next week, the teacher will go thru the previous week's lesson on a one to one basis before she starts a new topic for the week.

Problems :

- Hubby and I are not good in Mandarin. Not good as in really, really bad, at least for me. I can converse but can't really read Mandarin.

The first few booklets brought home was easy but subsequently, hubby and I are unable to read the Mandarin words. So how? I can't be going to my neighbour and asking them the words all the time.

My family or my hubby's family - nope, none can read Mandarin.

- I feel that the way the lessons are conducted are not easy for the kids to immerse into the language, well, at least for Eugene.

Every lesson is a different topic. So whether you know the previous lesson or not, the teacher will just carry on to the next topic. I feel that there is no continuity to the topics being taught.

I think Eugene learnt more Chinese words and how to use them by watching "Ni Hao Kai Lan"
instead.

Paint, Sharpen, Ruler

2011-09-09T17:08:00.000+08:00

5 September 2011

Lotus root soup was on the menu and I cut off some of the ends of the lotus root to use for stamping. Thought I'll do some art and craft with Eugene.

I remembered when I was young, my teacher would make stamps out of carrot, potatoes and lotus root and I really enjoyed painting and stamping on paper.

So I was rather excited to show Eugene what to do and I was sure he was going to enjoy it.

When he woke up from his afternoon nap, I declared that we're going to do some painting and I quickly brought out the lotus roots and showed him how to paint and stamp it.

Yes, he was excited ......... for less than 10 minutes.........

He looked at me and said in a soft tone : mommy, I don't want to paint anymore.

I guess it was not much of a challenge to him.

Paint and stamp, paint and stamp......

He was more interested in sharpening his pencils and drawing straights lines with his ruler.

Bro-in-law had bought for him a pencil case with pencils, ruler, eraser and sharpener in it and he was excited to try it all out.

He was meticulously sharpening his pencils..........

and learning to use the ruler......... I guess it's more interesing and challenging to him.

See him sharpening the pencil and using the ruler.

To 'Fight' or Not

2011-09-05T14:39:00.002+08:00

(1) At the Mister Maker play corner, he had a girl who shouted at him. Another girl also snatched the toy car from him.

(2) At the toy store at Ngee Ann, two older boys who're brothers kept pushing his train away from the tracks so that they will have the whole train set to themselves.

For the above incidents, I did not immediately go to 'rescue' Eugene. I wanted to see how he will react.

For (1), when the girl shouted at him, he was stunned.
And when a girl snatched the toy car from him, Eugene ran to me to complain and I told him to take it back.

Eugene tried to take it back but the girl was older and stronger than he was.

I told him to tell the girl that she must share, which Eugene did, but obviously it fell on deaf ears.

I didn't want to create a fuss as we were leaving already.

For (2)at the toy store in Ngee Ann, two boys kept pushing Eugene's train off the track as they wanted to whole track to themselves, Eugene told the boys that they must share and to be gentle. This caught the eye of the two boys' father who disciplined his kids there and then.

As a parent, as with all parents, I try to instill and teach my kid to have good values and principles. And for his age at this moment - be nice to others, tell the truth, share, must address your elders etc.

Of cos, he has his moment when he's a little devil like being defiant but generally he's a good kid.

So when I see him being bullied, what am I to do? Do I tell him to fight back or to be nice about it? If I tell him to fight back, it will contradict what I had taught him. If I tell him, never mind, he will be stepped upon.

I've been trying to find a 'solution' and at the moment, this is the best I can think of.

I will tell him : talk to the other party nicely, if the other party still persist in being nasty, then he can retaliate.

Of cos, I want my child to be a good kid but I want him to learn defensive skills too. If the other party is going to hurt him or being obviously nasty, I don't see why he has to stand there and turn the other cheek.

I am not going to always be there for him and I'll rather he be street-smart than book-smart. It's a jungle out there, not everybody's gonna play nice and I want him to be able to defend himself if the need arise.

I'm a 'late mother' and I guess maybe, I worry that I'll not be around for him when he is going through adulthood phase.

Am I teaching him the wrong thing? I don't know. I'll act accordingly to each situation that might arise.

Maybe I'm thinking too much? I guess as a parent, you will worry for your kid the rest of your life.

Mister Maker @ Forum Galleria, Singapore 2011

2011-09-05T14:05:00.001+08:00

27 August 2011

Got a free invitation to a workshop by Mister Maker, courtesy of StarHub. Well, not exactly free, 200 points to be deducted from our Hub Club account, I think for admin fee.

Before the workshop begins.

Hello everybody!

Packed!

I've got to use the glue!

With Mister Maker and the spider that was made (with lots of help) during the show.

Starhub : Mister Maker, Channel 303 Cbeebies

There was a play corner and Eugene had fun playing with the toy car.

The goodie bag from Mister Maker and the spider that was made during the workshop.

I tried to stick the felt ears, nose, mouth etc for the sock puppets with the glue provided but it won't stick. The only way is to sew it.

Even the spider made during the workshop won't stick. But I guess they have to use a normal glue as it's safer for the kids.

On the way to Takashimaya.

At a toy store in Ngee Ann City. Very nice wooden Thomas train set.

When Eugene was playing with the toy cars at the Mister Maker show and with the Thomas train set at Ngee Ann City, he encountered rude and aggressive kids.

What to do? I will post this dilemma in the next post.

1st Swimming Lesson

2011-08-25T01:07:00.000+08:00

22 Aug 2011

Today was Eugene's first swimming lesson. Well, how did it go?

He cried.

I thought that he was afraid of the water but not leh, he was playing happily before we started the lesson. Also the instructor said, from his observation, all the kids do not really fear the water too much.

Eugene only cried if the swimming instructor have the kids lined up to do some stuff like queue up to learn how to go into the water or sit side by side to learn how to kick with their legs under water.

Hah, Eugene is the type who don't operate well in a regimented structure. He likes the play and learn type of way. He don't like to have to being told and made to do it. Show him how to do it and he will do it in his own time.

I guess I'll 'teach' Eugene the instructor's instructions by implementing it in such a way that it's not an order. Guess I'll have to go early before the lessons and stay a bit longer after the lesson.

Well, I'm mentally prepared that he'll be mostly just splashing around and not doing much for the next couple of months liao.

One good thing is that he'll be so hungry that he'll eat a lot after the swim lesson (he's kind of underweight for his age).

Hmm.... I get very hungry too.... hope that I'm not the one who will put on weight instead.

Eye-Lashes

2011-08-23T23:53:00.003+08:00

Eugene has long eye-lashes which unfortunately is causing a problem for him.

Every morning, he would complain that his eyes are painful - why? - well, it seem his eyes' dirt will get stuck on his eye-lashes and when he rubs his eyes, some of the dirt will get into his eyes.

Sometimes, his top and bottom eye-lashes got kind of glued together too, lol

Curry Day

2011-08-22T15:19:00.003+08:00

In support of "Curry Day" ! For those who do not know what's it all about - please google to find out.

Didn't cook a pot of curry but had roti-prata with fish curry.

As the saying goes, "when in Rome, do what the Romans do".

Foreigners here in Singapore, please respect the different races and cultures. We are a multi-racial country.

And to the PRC couple and the countrymen who thinks like them :

This is Singapore, not Chinapore

Holding A Pencil Correctly

2011-08-19T12:01:00.000+08:00

Eugene came home and said he wanted to draw. Yes, sure and he went to take his colouring book and his container of colour pencils.

Then I noticed it. He's holding the pencil the correct way! Yay!

I had tried teaching Eugene to hold the pencil correctly (see here) but most of the time, he will still hold it the "fist-grip" way. I've never really insisted that he had to hold it the correct way as I do not want to put him off holding a pencil.

So, really, this came as a surprise to me.

He can grip the pencil properly but he tends to try to draw/write without resting his hand on the table for support.

So he's using his arm to move the pencil instead of his fingers and thus cannot control the pencil properly - though sometimes he do rest his hand on the table for more support.

Me : are you going to write alphabets?

Eugene : no, I'm drawing shapes

So here're his attempts at drawing circles and triangles.

Hmm.. he just wants to draw inside those margins and not anywhere else on the page - don't know why.

I'll teach him to use a ruler to draw straight line so that he can draw inside - waste so many pages like this right?

I checked with his teacher and she confirmed that she's been teaching the kids the correct way of holding a pencil.

And the teacher has been also teaching the kids the correct grammar to use. And I was again surprised that Eugene was able to use the past tense in a sentence appropriate to the situation.

Dinosaurs VS Humans

2011-08-15T23:26:00.000+08:00

Just read this in the newspaper recently :

Purchase of 3 dinosaurs at risk as donations fall short of target

Less than $2m of immediate $8m needed raised as new deadline looms

By Tan Dawn Wei, News Editor

The deadline set by its sellers has come and gone, but the money to buy three dinosaurs for Singapore’s upcoming natural history museum is still not in the bag.

Since it embarked on an intense race to raise $12 million for the fossils from Wyoming in the United States a month ago, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research has managed to collect only $1.89 million through several donors and public donations through its online portal.

It has since negotiated an extension of the deadline – originally July 31 – with its American sellers and now has one to two months to raise the rest of the money.

The immediate task is to collect $8 million first to secure the three dinosaurs. The remaining $4 million, to be used for transport and to mount the exhibits, can be raised later.

$12 million! to buy 3 dinosaurs for our museum.

Please! why don't you use this amount of money to help the poor, elderly, disabled etc in this country?

We've being seeing and hearing about the plights of all these people - why don't you channel the money to help these people?

In my neighbourhood, I always see this old lady pushing her big trolley of cardboards which she is obviously collecting to sell. It's heartbreaking you know.

And today, an elderly man took the cover off a dustbin and starting rummaging thru the bin to collect cans.

Yes, I can understand that the dinosaurs are a part of a fantastic history. The dinosaurs are valuable but are these bones more valuable than a human?

You guys got the cheek to even ask the public to donate for this.

Please lah, get your priorities right.

Bl#%dy Sh#@

Interactive Phonics

2011-08-13T00:24:00.000+08:00

Eugene is not the type where he will sit 'quai quai' for you to read books to him. His idea of reading to him is that you have to narrate the story in your own words, not read out what's written.

If you read out what's written, his eyes will look here, look there and then he will refuse to look at the book.

Animations is what will hold his attention (isn't most kids?) and he had learnt a lot from kids programmes.

Now, regarding phonics, Eugene learnt his phonics from the "Leapfrog" series which are very good to hold a kid's attention 'cos got nice cartoons to portray the sounds (Thanks to "Our Baby of Love" who introduced "Leapfrog").

Then I read in some mommies forum about this website and it's really good for interactive phonics - http://www.starfall.com/

I guess most of you parents would have known about this website but I've only found out about it (ya, me slow). But for those who do not know, do check it out.

>

Art Garden @ Singapore Art Museum 2011

2011-08-08T23:38:00.005+08:00

29 July 2011

"Mummy Dearest" room.

Dress up the dolls and

decorate a cake - using velcros.

"Paramodelic-Graffiti" room

Eugene wanted to touch everything there but it was not for touching.

The kids are supposed to fix the tracks themselves (of cos with help from a museum assistant to guide them) but the tracks were already laid when we got there........

The toy trains were battery-operated.

After a while, Eugene got bored with it.

No fun and no challenge just looking at the trains going round and round on their own.

Eugene actually picked up the train that was given to him to play and put it back into the bin and said he wanted to leave.

he much preferred it here..........

He can fix the tracks and accessories himself and to get the trains moving, you have to wind it up.

There were no other kids in this room and so Eugene had all the attention of the assistants there who helped and played with him for awhile.

He had the whole table to himself. I guess this was more challenging to him. More accessories like tunnels, bridges etc to add to the tracks and also to have to wind up the trains to get it moving.

He was scared of the elephant at first but later warmed up to it and kept asking to be given stickers to stick onto the elephant.

"Fruits" - er, boring lor, paper fruits
"Tree of Love"
"Dancing Solar Flowers" - can see, cannot touch
"Superhigh" - can push the coloured blocks around and can sit or stand on it - but Eugene don't find it fun leh.

Went to the Chapel to watch some films for kids and also to take a short breather and light snack. Ok, the breather was more for me, ha ha.

I find that there were less interactive stuff to do.

I much preferred last year's and I'm sure Eugene too.

Underwater Shots @ Raffles Town Club

2011-07-30T17:54:00.001+08:00

19 July 2011

I've finally decided to buy a waterproof bag for my Canon Powershot camera. It's like a ziplock bag to put the camera in.

The Canon camera is quite an old camera and so I was willing to try it out in the waterproof bag. Of cos, I did the 'dry' test first as advised by the manufacturer. That is, put in a piece of tissue in the waterproof bag and submerge it in water and see if any water gets in.

Well, no water went it and so decided to try it out with my Canon camera.

Here we are at the Raffles Town Club.

Hubby's nephew - same age as Eugene - completely fearless in water.

Hubby's other niece and nephew - naturals in the water.

Hubby's brother and kids.

See me holding tightly onto the kids? Frankly, I've got water-phobia. I almost drowned when I was young and was scared eversince.

You can tell the kids are very confident in the water by their expressions. As for me, I was trying my hardest not to have a "shocked" look !

Hubby's bro's wife and the youngest one. All the kids had a fun time going down the slides except Eugene :( who absolutely refused to be even near it.

The pic at the bottom showed Eugene crying. Well, he found himself on the deep end (feet just barely touching the bottom) and started panicking.

Yeah, I, at least put my fear aside for awhile and put my head underwater.

Ya, laugh. Only those who have water-phobia like me will understand how scared one can be if one have to go underwater.

Go for swimming lessons? Yes, I did.

(A) In my twenties, I joined a group. When I turned up, I was the only adult among the kids (I think somebody recommended this teacher ( I wanted a female) and to join her group. I thought it was an adult only group, looked like I was wrong). Then we had to go to the deep end to learn how to tread water.

Instructress : D, take your hands off!

I was clinging to the side of the pool and refused to let go.

I didn't go back for any more lessons.

(B) In my thirties, my galfren and I had private lessons (just the two of us) at my friend's condo pool.

Did frog style but I still did not know how to come up for air and so was holding my breath. I was swimming from the shallow end and then I saw.......I was at the deep end now and panicked and the instructress had to quickly pull me out of the water.

End of lesson.

So how?

Underwater World, Sentosa

2011-07-27T22:21:00.006+08:00

14 July 2011

Hubby's niece and nephew wanted to take the bus, a double-decker if possible.
I was already tired by the time we reached Sentosa! ha ha ha.

The Touch-Pool.

Beautiful!

Look at those huge Japanese King Crabs ! They're as big as Eugene!

The jelly-fish takes on the colour of the changing lights.

Are they just colourful seaweeds? Look closer.........

They are the Amazing Sea Dragons!

Pink Dolphin! Not totally pink - got black spots. But still, so cute.

The sea-lions are so adorable!

Let's all cool down.

It was a very hot hot day !!!!!

Went to one of the cafes along the beach for some snacks.

The mother of this boy told me that her son started to tell Eugene about his toy cars and Eugene was like nodding his head and answering the boy - the mother was very amused - 'cos the kids were talking like adults - so serious and all.

The other kid was very friendly and generous in sharing his toys with Eugene.

The Underwater World's smaller than I expected. You can stand on the travellator to loop around the aquarium - it's a very small loop. I wasn't wow by it as I had been to a similar one in Australia.

The pink dolphin show was a big disappointment. The star should be the pink dolphins right? But they didn't do much - maybe due to pressure from the animals' rights group. The majority of the performance was by the sealions who're very entertaining.

I am 3 years old !

2011-07-17T14:13:00.000+08:00

11 July 2011

How time flies! In the blink of an eye, and Eugene is already 3 years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EUGENE !

Teacher Liz who is so wonderful with the kids.

The assistant whom Eugene calls 'Auntie'

The classmates. Of cos, Eugene will have to be seated next to his favourite gal 'S'.

After class, we walked to Central to meet my friend 'SY' for lunch.
On the way, Eugene started to prance around and hollering in a loud voice (in a good way). I guess he was happy and thrilled that the whole class sang 'Happy Birthday' to him and he was the 'star'.

These were moves that I had never seen him do before !

Yep, you can tell that he was really happy that day.

Cake Pops n Presents

2011-07-16T14:23:00.006+08:00

I decided to get Cake Pops for Eugene's classmates as well as for his teacher and the teacher's assistant.

Never knew there's such a thing as cake pops till I read this blog's posting. Thanks Lady J for the recommendation.

SMILEY FACE CAKE-POPS

N ELMO!

So cute, right?

The Elmo cake pops looks very red, just how Elmo's colour should be but in reality, the colour was more like the pic right at the top where I have not stuck the Elmos onto the styrofoam yet - well, I should say a little bit more lighter actually.

Even though it would have looked a lot like Elmo if it had been more red, but then it was no big deal. The kids still loved it!

There're a couple of bakers in S'pore doing these cake-pops but what sold me over was (according to their website) :

1) we do not use artificial preservatives or stabilisers in our cakes

2) where butter is required, we use real butter and not shortening or margarine

3) the ingredients we use does not contain trans fat

4) where milk is required, we use low-fat milk

As these cake-pops was to be given out to young children, I do not want to have any unnatural stuff in it as far as possible.

I tasted a cake-pop and it was very tasty! The shell and the chocolate cake encased in it was not too sweet and it was very yummy!

If you are interested, get it here :
http://www.happybakes.com/

Parents and in-laws gives ang-pows every year.

Bro-in-law and family got the below for Eugene.

while we got for Eugene a Beyblade. Why a Beyblade? Becos Eugene wanted one.
Sometimes when we bring Eugene to the playground, there will be this group of older boys playing their Beyblades and Eugene will watch fascinated by it (see here). And so when we asked what he would like for his birthday, he immediately said Beyblade.

He chose the Beyblade himself.

Eugene has only watched the boys playing the Beyblade and have never touched one before. So we showed him how to play it.

After a couple of tries, he got the hang of it.

The video below was taken after Eugene had tried to learn how to spin the Beyblade for a few time and thus you can see that he was very careful and cautious going about doing it (of cos, by the time this post is posted, he's already like a pro at it!)

You will also notice that he got a smile on his face the whole time. Ya, that's becos I told him that I'm taking a video of him and so to please smile (I didn't expect him to smile throughout, ha ha).

The 'faster' that I had mentioned in the video was not to chide him for being slow but to tell him to pull that plastic thingy fast so that the top will be able to spin faster and longer.

Not bad for a 3 years old Beyblader !

Eugene's Pre-Birthday Celebration @ Bottle Tree Park

2011-07-15T08:18:00.004+08:00

10 July 2011

Had a pre-birthday celebration for Eugene.

Hubby's brother and family just came back to Singapore for a visit and we decided to hold the birthday at Bottle Tree Park mainly because of the kids. Hubby's brother have 3 kids and we thought it would be very fun for them to try longang fishing!

This was Eugene's 2nd time at Bottle Tree Park and trying his hand at longang fishing (see his 1st time here).

We were worried that he might slip and kept telling him not to step on the rocks but he persisted and insisted that he's all right.

But he was very careful, stepping gingerly onto the rocks.

Here's a tip for catching the fish. It is very hard to catch with the small net provided - you can do it better by catching with your hands!

Hubby and the kids and other kids there were catching more fish by using their hands.

Hah, hubby was tired out as the 2 youngest kid, Eugene and 'J' kept asking hubby to catch a fish for each of them.And the fish will have to be put into the net that each of them were carrying, why? Becos the kids wanted to transfer by themselves the fish in the net into the container provided - it made them feel that they were the ones who caught the fish !

Hubby's bro's wife and 2 kids looking at the fish. Pa-in-law looking amused.

Bro-in-law's two older kids.

Special effect from my new camera.

I like this photo very much. Eugene with 'J' (bro-in-law's youngest son)

Came across some people training their parrots to fly across the fishing pond to the person waiting over the other side.

Dinner at the Seafood Restaurant. Everybody was hungry and quickly started eating before all the food could arrived.

Hubby's sis made this teddy bear cake. She took a few hours doing the icing on this.

Thank you!

LOVE YOU !

Mouse Track

2011-06-29T09:47:00.000+08:00

17 June 2011

The kid is now using the mouse correctly - that is positioning his hand and fingers correctly to click and able to move and position the cursor.

Natural Style Hair-Cut

2011-06-28T15:51:00.000+08:00

15 June 2011

Eugene had his 1st professional hair-cut here but I wasn't too pleased with it.

And so this time round, I told the gal that I want his hair layered - the gal called it the 'natural look' hair-cut. Ok, so long as it's not 'beng'.

Definitely much better.

er, you will notice that the fringe's not so evenly layered - well, my fault. I was cutting his fringe a couple of weeks before. He suddenly moved and a whole chunk of the fringe got cut off! Luckily I can always gel his fringe back a bit, otherwise can really see a 'lobang' there.

Space Camp @ FasTracKids

2011-06-24T13:56:00.000+08:00

13 June - 17 June 2011

Decided to enrol Eugene for a 1 week 'Space Camp' during the school holidays.

Just nice that this camp was about space and planets as Eugene is fascinated by the night sky with stars and the moon.

The kids get to draw on the interactive board.

Lessons on space and colouring the astronauts.

Eugene, on his own accord, got out of his chair and waited for his turn in donning the astronaut suit.

Astronaut Eugene!

Playing with his new classmates after the lesson.

In one lesson, the teacher said to imagine that there are twinkling stars in the sky and switched off the classroom's lights, Eugene while looking up to the ceiling, commented : wah, so nice!

The assistant teacher was very tickled by it that he can really imagined it.

The last lesson had a baking session.

This is the 1st time that Eugene is 'baking'.

Tada! well, don't know which one Eugene did as all the cookies were baked together and given out.

The projects that the kids did besides learning about the planets.

DAY 1

DAY 2

- differentl phases of the moon and yes, that's a macaroni moon!

DAY 3

- hot air balloon

DAY 4

- the Sun

DAY 5

BAKING COOKIES

Overall, Eugene had a good time.

I didn't want to enrol him for any enrichment classes. No need to stress the kid so early - I'm sure he'll be stressed when he goes to mainstream school which I hope by then the government would have a more interactive syllabus.

So this class was purely fun for Eugene.

Bob The Builder @ Millenia Walk

2011-06-21T15:11:00.000+08:00

11 June 2011

Sis-in-law told us that there are some public Bob-The- Builder shows at Millenia Walk.

Waiting for the show to start. As usual, always lying down on the floor.

He's very 'manja' lately. Ultra 'sticky' too. A passing phase, I hope.

Wow! Bob and his Gang LIVE!

Catchy music.

Great lively show for the kids.

Eugene really enjoying himself.
Excuse the shaky video - bought a new camera and trying it out.
First time using a zoom lens and as you can tell, very rough zooming :(

Eugene likes to look at water-falls.

Came across this and donated $10.00 and Eugene gets to paint.

This volunteer guy actually sat with Eugene througout the time that Eugene was painting.

He was very patient and was guiding Eugene on how to use the brush and how to paint.

But Eugene is too young..........

and so VAN GOGH

became

ABSTRACT ART

SingKids Playground @ Changi Airport T3

2011-05-29T22:33:00.004+08:00

29 May 2011

Heard that there're some new playgrounds at Changi Airport and off we went to check it out.

There's a bouncing castle at departure level but there was a long queue and we didn't want to wait.

We went down to the basement and we saw a play area called SingKids.

There's a big area for older kids and a smaller area (directly opposite) for the younger ones.

Kind of pricey though - $18.00 for one hour and must wear socks. Ended having to buy socks from them at $1.00 per pair for Eugene, hubby and me. Only one guardian can accompany the kid and so hubby and I took turns to accompany Eugene.

The big kids' area. Eugene didn't play on most of it.

The small kids' area.

He liked the slide .....

and balls........ now, I must say that a guardian must be in there to keep an eye on the kid if your kid is still a toddler or if he's short.

The balls area is very well padded and soft, even I had a hard time steadying myself.

When Eugene fell or laid down, he got all covered by the balls and sometimes he had trouble trying to get up and out. Once, he couldn't get up and he sank deeper down and all the balls started to cover him. I could see he was getting a bit panicky and I quickly have to grab him and pull him up.

and he loved chasing the balloons!

and then we saw the tall, huge slide......

Hubby : Eugene, would you like to go on this slide?

Eugene : YES!

Me : No way! he's too little !!!!

Hubby : not the highest one, the lower slide....

Me : no, no, no!

Not giving up, hubby sauntered over to the entrance.

Hubby : Hey, can accompany the kid down. Ok, I will accompany Eugene down the slide.

Me : ok, if you are with him.

WHERE'S THE KID????????

Hubby smiling sheepishly and pointed that Eugene had gone down by himself.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Is he going to be alright?
There he is! sliding down.....

coming out of the slide ............ mommy, I want to go again and yes, he had a go again - all by himself......

I asked hubby what happened and hubby said that when he asked Eugene if he wants daddy to accompany him or go down by himself - Eugene said that he want to go down on his own.

I guess looking at all the other kids who went down by themselves, he wanted to do it on his own too. But the other kids were bigger and older than him ! I was really worried then. But all's well, ends well. He had a good time.

Cheese Burger

2011-05-28T16:11:00.000+08:00

Eugene wanted to eat at McDonald's.

Yes, I know it's bad and it's junk food. But we do not eat it frequently. Once in a blue moon.

And yes, it taste rather shiok, especially the fries!

Hubby ordered a cheese burger for Eugene. My eyes big big - are you sure he can eat a whole burger?

Alternating between his burger and the fries...

Eugene finished slightly more than half of the cheese burger and almost all the fries.

I Wait For You

2011-05-27T16:28:00.001+08:00

This is KL. I think she is the youngest in the class.

If KL's parents or grandparents picks her up after class before I come to pick up Eugene, she will stand outside the class and refuses to move because she wants to walk with Eugene.

Therein lies a problem.

KL will not move without Eugene. Eugene will not move without S.

So now, all of us will wait for each other and all of us will walk together on the way home.

KL would not walk beside Eugene and S but will walk in front, like a leader leading the way.

Occasionally, she would turn round to make sure that we are behind her.

Look at S and Eugene walking hand in hand. Happiness!

Mars & Venus

2011-05-26T10:03:00.001+08:00

While watching OKTO with my kid, a commercial showed two sets of primary school kids competing against each other. One set comprised of boys and the other comprised of gals.

Their insightful comment about each other?

Girls are very BOSSY

Boys are very UNFAITHFUL

Don't you agree to a certain extent?

Foreign Talents - PRC

2011-05-26T02:04:00.009+08:00

I will touch on the PRCs because they are the majority FTs here and I'll just comment on the service staff.

They are everywhere. Sometimes you can tell from their looks or dressings but sometimes only when they speak.

Nothing against the PRC but they are in abundance here and you can't help but feel their presence more and encountering them more often.

I just wish that they will at least learn a bit of basic English - no need any Queen English lah - just basic and even broken English, also can.

I've come across some PRCs making the effort to respond in English but they are more the exception than the rule.

Some incidents :

(1) China Bus Driver

I was on an SBS bus when the bus broke down. Driver called on the mobile to his HQ and asked what to do. From his accent, knew he's from China.

Next thing, he was gesturing to the passengers to get down from the bus.
There were Malay and Indian passengers and they asked him (in English) what's happening and what now?

China bus driver obviously can't speak any English as he just keep gesturing for us to get off the bus.

I stepped in and asked the driver (in Mandarin) what we should do and only then he explained in Mandarin that he will give out tickets for all of us to take the next bus free - of cos, I have to translate and explained to the rest of the passengers.

** isn't it dangerous that the driver is only able to express himself in his native language (Mandarin)?
What if he need to call his HQ in an emergency and the operator can't speak or understand Mandarin?
How is he going to communicate to his passengers if need be? There are not only chinese passengers but also malays, indians, the non-chinese, non-mandarin speaking?

(2) China Taxi-Driver

Was in a taxi with my aunt. Aunt spoke teochew dialect but China driver obviously don't understand (not driver's fault). Told him in English - also don't understand.

My Mandarin is pretty bad and so we ended up in another building (only know how to say this building's name in Mandarin) close to the building that we are supposed to head to.

** if the passenger don't speak Mandarin, how?

(3) China Sales-Staffs

Some can guess what you are asking them. You ask them in English, they answer you in Mandarin.

Some don't understand at all. What do they do? They holler to their colleagues who know some English to serve you. This is not fair to your colleague isn't it?

+

I'm not against any China Chinese or any nationalities but as they say, when in Rome, do what the Romans do.

If you are in the public service, you cannot just be in your own world and not learn the common language, English, to communicate with non-Mandarin speaking people.

Singapore is a multi-racial country !

But I think the employers should be the ones to be blamed as I'm sure they knows if their employees can speak English or not.

If the employers still hire them, then of cos the employees won't make an effort.

As an employee, I will be thinking : If you still hire me even though you know that I don't know English, then that meant you don't care, don't mind if I don't know English, so why I bother to learn?

** employer of (1), (2) and (3) above : hello, only Chinese people in Singapore is it? Also, doesn't mean if you are Chinese, can understand Mandarin, you know.

Of cos, some people out there can say, hey, if employ a Filipina, the Filipina cannot speak Mandarin to the Mandarin speaking customers.

No one person is gonna be able to speak Mandarin, Malay, Indian.

What I'm saying is that the service staff should at least know some basic English which is the common language that we speak here among the different races to communicate with each other.

As some other bloggers said : I feel like a stranger in my own country.

The Kid Said ........(3)

2011-05-21T00:28:00.002+08:00

Eugene came up to me with a scared look on his face.

Hmm.... what did he do now? (I thought to myself)

Me : Eugene, what's wrong?

Eugene : Mommy, I broke the camera

I quickly took the camera from his hand - no more battery power - the boy thought he had broke it. But I played along.

Eugene : Mommy, are you angry?

Me : No, but I'm sad. Now I have no more camera (making a sad and pathetic face) and I have no money to buy a new one.

Can you give me your Piggy bank? I will use the money in your piggy bank to buy a new camera.

Eugene : wait Mommy, I'm going out for awhile (went out of the study room to the living room and came back with his piggy bank and handed it to me)

Me : You are really giving me your Piggy bank? Are you sure?

Eugene : Yes, mommy.

The next day ...........

Me : So Eugene, I'll take the money from your piggy bank to buy a new camera, ok?

Eugene : OK, mommy!

Me : You are sure? No more money in the piggy bank you know!

Eugene : Don't worry!

The "Don't worry" caught me off guard - ha ha.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Me : Eugene, where did you get this blister on the back of your foot?

Hubby : Think the sandals is too small for him now and the strap is cutting into his foot.

Eugene : No, it's not the sandals. It's the boots. Can I put a plaster?

Upon thinking, yes, he did wear a pair of boots the day before and he did complain of some pain but we looked at his sole instead and missed the blister at the back of his ankle.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

While waiting for the classroom's door to open, one of Eugene's classmate arrived with her mom and she started talking to her mom.

Eugene : you talk! you can talk! you're talking!

Eugene kept repeating that to her. I guess she's really quiet in class and thus Eugene was surprised when words came out from her.
I didn't know what to say and was worried that her mom might be angry with Eugene.

Kid's Mom : yes, she can talk!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Me : Today is Friday. What day is tomorrow?

Eugene : Thursday!

Me : No, yesterday was Thursday. Today is Friday and tomorrow is ......?

Eugene : (after thinking for awhile) --- NO SCHOOL DAY ! -------

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Powder Mess

2011-05-18T14:25:00.001+08:00

Hmm..... Eugene is unusually quiet. For parents, you know that this is not good as it means that the kid is up to something.

This was what Eugene was up to ........

Feeling guilty.

we realised that the mess extended all the way to the study room too.....

Rat @ Toa Payoh Foodcourt Koufu

2011-05-16T01:06:00.001+08:00

My fren SY said to me : did you see the pic of the big rat spotted at Koufu at the chicken rice stall as reported in My Paper?

Well no, but I'm definitely going to search on the net to find the pic.

And here it is,

OMG!!!!! look at the size of it!!!! (click on it to see bigger pic, I just couldn't post it bigger cos it's so eeeky). It is so gross!!!!!!

It is right smack on the display food tray. And look at that long tail!!!! Eeeek!!!!!

Luckily I've never eaten at that chicken rice stall but I had eaten from the satay beehoon stall next to it - any rat went into the satay sauce? I won't know - gosh, I feel like puking just thinking about it.

Gosh, did it eat the whole chicken or what. It's really big and fat.

Or maybe it's Remy from Ratatouille giving lessons on cooking.

This is cute.......

but this is absolutely scary and gross!!!!!!

FREAK OUT!!!!!

Another Gal

2011-05-11T14:29:00.001+08:00

No, Eugene's not having a crush on another gal. It is still only 'S' (here and here). 'S' is the only one that Eugene will automatically rush and ask to hold hands and also try to kiss goodbye !

Here he is holding hands with another of his classmate 'A'.'A' s got beautiful naturally curly hair.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle !

2011-05-09T14:29:00.000+08:00

That's the mantra of 'Bob The Builder'.

Ok, I'm not much of a 'green' person but hubby is.

Eugene used to only watch hubby throw the stuff into the bin for recycling as then he was young and short.

Now that he's older, time for him to get used to the concept of recycling and do his part for the environment.

Yay! the 2 "green" boys.

Durian Luvs

2011-05-07T16:44:00.000+08:00

Eugene loves to eat durian!

When he was younger, he would eat just 1 seed. But now, he will take 2. Don't dare to give him more as it will be too heaty.

Magic Painting

2011-05-04T01:04:00.002+08:00

Eugene had been asking to paint. Think he saw some people doing some painting while watching TV. Everytime we go to Popular, he would head straight to the brushes section and feeling and looking at the brushes for quite a while.

I had also been thinking of exposing him to it - will be fun for him, ya?

But I hesitated, why?

- will it be a fleeting interest and money wasted?

- ok, I admit, I was more worried that he'll splatter the house and I'll have to clean up the mess!

One day, while at Popular Bookstore to decide if I really should buy him some paints, somebody left a book at the paint shelf. Hmm... what is this? The title caught my interest - Magic Painting, just add water and voila, auto colours.

Ha, somebody up there heard my concern(thanks!). This would be perfect! At least can let him try and see how it goes before buying the whole works.

You dip a brush in water and paint over the picture and voila! instant colour!

I told Eugene that he can get to choose his own brush and he was so excited and trotted quickly to the brushes section and chose one for himself (er.. I steered him towards the cheaper brush as he had picked up a very expensive one).

Notice Eugene holding the brush in both his right and left hand?

I notice he's using his right hand more to do stuff but I've seen him switching easily to his left hand as well - like he's able to feed himself using either his right or left hand.

I guess kids at his age are still finding out which his dominant hand is?

DIY Garage

2011-04-30T18:02:00.001+08:00

19 April 2011

Eugene have got a lot of Fix-It stuff but it was only recently that he took an interest in fixing and creating stuff.

Eugene built trees, roads and a small garage.

Vehicles nicely parked side by side.

Why Boys Need Parents

2011-04-25T23:45:00.001+08:00

Somethings never change, even when they're all grown up....

And two of my favourites..........

Cube Puzzle - Another Side Done !

2011-04-23T17:29:00.000+08:00

17 April 2011

Eugene doing his Cube Puzzle again but trying to piece together a different picture now.

He used to have difficulty piecing together this Jungle Puzzle but nowadays he can do it easily.

Now and then, he would take out his puzzles to piece together.

If only he was so diligent in learning how to read words.

BeyBlade @ Playground

2011-04-20T23:18:00.000+08:00

15 April 2011

Eugene likes to go to this playground because in the early evenings, this group of boys will gather and play their BeyBlades and he can watch them challenging each other.

The older boys doesn't talk to Eugene, I guess they consider him a baby but at least they did not chase him away.

In fact, one of the boys let Eugene retrieve their BeyBlades when it jumped out of the plastic arena they were spinning the BeyBlades in. Well, if you know the boys and their Beyblades, nobody touches their Beyblades so this older boy was quite nice about it.

Of cos, Eugene was thrilled to bits that this 'kor-kor' let him have the honour of retrieving it.

There's this young girl who kept following Eugene around till Eugene got a bit annoyed and complained to us but we told him to play with her and be gentle with her as she's much younger.

Eugene was later playing 'catching' with a group of older girls.

Hurray! Hold Hands!

2011-04-19T16:06:00.000+08:00

Eugene's 1st crush "S" finally let him hold her hands.

Eugene was tugging at his bag.

Me : what are you doing Eugene?

Eugene : I want to give my Glico Pocky to "S" to eat

Eugene gave a stick of Glico Pocky to "S" but "S" don't want it.

Eugene : Mommy, "S" don't want my Glico Pocky (looking a bit downcresten)

He was grinning from ear to ear the whole time he was holding her hand.

When they have to part, guess what Eugene did?

He wanted to kiss her goodbye!

Eugene : kiss, a kiss

S : NO!

I don't know what to say. I've never taught him to kiss anybody except immediate families or very, very close acquaintances.

I'm also wary that the kids' parents/grandparents/guardian might not like it due to hygiene reason or simply just not comfortable with it - because I'll feel the same way if another kid try to kiss Eugene.

Well, will have to keep an eye on this Casanova!

Lego Guns

2011-04-14T17:09:00.000+08:00

Eugene's very own DIY Lego Guns.

We saw him playing with the legos and suddenly he came and showed what he made to us.

He made one gun for me and wanted me to play with him. I told him to make another one for daddy so that we can all play together.

Instead of going 'bang, bang, bang' with him , we went 'psst, psst, psst' - 'bang, bang' too noisy lah.

So the three of us got a gun each and we were hiding behind the tables and chairs and 'pssting' at each other, ha ha.

Take that! Of cos his gun has to be bigger than ours!

Daddy's mini gun .....duh......

Look at my big gun!

Hmm.... think I'll make it even bigger and longer!

He had seen his cousins playing with those big toy guns and wanted one but we refused to buy it for him and I guess he improvised and made one out of the Lego.

Messy Ice-Cream

2011-04-13T03:42:00.000+08:00

Cube Puzzle - One Side Done !

2011-04-12T11:24:00.001+08:00

04 April 2011

I had mentioned here about how Eugene has found it difficult to piece together this cube puzzle as it is multi-sided.

Well, today, he took it out and started to piece it by himself and he did it!

Now, to tackle the other sides of the puzzle.

Letter Box Officer

2011-04-11T22:42:00.000+08:00

Yes, Eugene is our Letter Box Officer !

Thank goodness that Eugene can open and close the letter box now as hubby and I are having problem squatting to reach the letter box (old fogeys liao mah, knee pain)

Concentrating to slowly push in the key.

No letters today!

Locking it now.

Look, flowers!

One of the Boys

2011-04-10T11:58:00.000+08:00

26 March 2011

Eugene having dinner with two of my nephews.

We are lucky that Eugene's rather independent in his eating.

And he would eat and try anything !

I guess sometimes we're over protective and would refuse to let him try the spicy stuff like curry, chilli etc but the more we refuse him, the more he's curious. So what we do is that we let him try it - just a drop of it - he will find it too hot and spicy and he'll never ask for it again, ha ha, no more tussle.

So he usually eats what we're eating (of cos, the food is something that Eugene's able to eat too, like not ordering spicy stuff) and this is so convenient especially if we are going out as we do not have to specially cook his meal and bring it along with us.

The Kid Said.............(2)

2011-04-08T04:33:00.001+08:00

Hubby : is Eugene young or old?

Eugene : young

Hubby : is daddy young or old?

Eugene : old !

Hubby : is mommy young or old ?

Eugene : (thought for awhile) .... not old .......
(well done, score for being politically correct! ha ha ha)

*********************

While on the way to class, came across an auntie walking her puppies :

Eugene : mommy, puppies!

Me : yes, how many puppies?

Eugene : three!

(huh? scratching my head)

Me : Eugene! there are only 2 puppies - Auntie is not a puppy!

*

Hammer Not Fast Enough !

2011-04-07T20:58:00.000+08:00

Take that and that! but still not fast enough to hit it !

Wild Honey & Fruit Paradise

2011-04-03T00:29:00.001+08:00

19 March 2011

The Khakis decided to switch to Wild Honey at Mandarin Gallery at the last minute.
Sure, I don't mind checking out new places to eat :), especially one that serves all-day breakfast.

There was a long queue but we wanted to try this place out and so waited and waited.

Getting really hungry by now and as you know, a hungry man or in this case woman is an angry man/woman.

An ang-moh man came out with small pieces of cakes on two slabs of wood on each hand to probably ease our growling tummies.

I only took a small piece from one of the wooden slab.
I initally thought that he meant to pass us one of the whole slab of mini cut pieces of cake (there were five of us mah) but thought the better of it - lucky didn't lor as the ang-moh guy went to offer also to the other people waiting around.

Well, I guess a hungry woman can't think that straight too, ha ha ha.

After settling down comfortably, we were told that the menu is written on the boards and that you pay immediately to the cashier. Huh? we have to go to the cashier area to read the menu written on boards or view the menu on one of the stationery ipads?

There's service charge - I do expect that the place can afford to print some menus.

Also, it takes time to read the menu and decide what you want and this creates a jam and annoyance for the people waiting behind.

I had the Tunisian breakfast.

So shiok! You've got 2 soft eggs with cut sausages in this tomato stew and you mopped it up with the 2 fluffy soft bread that came with it.

My only complaint was that it was a tad too salty but otherwise shiok, shiok and shiok!

But I can't say the same for the others that my khakis had ordered. Nobody wowed about their orders.

The food were very well presented.

I guess there're hits and misses - really depends on what you order.

We saw many people ordering the full breakfast set - so this must have been good.

I was lucky that I ordered the Tunisian breakfast as I found out later that this is one of their specialty dish.

Prices hover around $20 per dish. I guess since it's at Mandarin Gallery, this price range is to be expected.

We decided to go somewhere to continue our chit-chats and decided on Orchard Central as it's not crowded.

It's Fruit Paradise.

Look at these cakes choc-a-bloc with fruits piled on top of it !

We didn't order any cakes this time round but had tea only.

Unfortunately the different fruit/flower tea that we had tasted rather bland even after letting it seep for quite a while.

We only came here, as I've said earlier, because it's not crowded and we can sit for as long as we want.

Till the next makan session again.

ZW, sorry if you do feel bored with us gals gossiping and all. This is what happens when a bunch of gals get together!

WILD HONEY

#03-02, Mandrin Gallery

Orchard Road

http://www.wildhoney.com.sg

(cannot make reservation)

FRUIT PARADISE

#05-51/52 Orchard Central

Orchard Road

Mouse

2011-03-30T00:25:00.000+08:00

As I had mentioned in an earlier post here and here, Eugene is getting quite adept at using the computer.

He had explored the keyboard and discovered that when a movie is playing, if he press the space-bar, he could play or pause the movie. Wah, I didn't even know that till he showed me!

And just yesterday, Eugene wanted to watch his kiddy show on the computer and I played it for him.

After a while, I came into the study room to check on him. Hmm.... how come the show haven't ended and seemed to be still in the beginning part of the show.

Eugene, did the show ended?

Yes, mommy

Did you play the show again?

Yes, mommy

(hmm.... )

How did you replay? Show me. (I clicked the movie back to the title menu)

Eugene put his hand on the mouse, guided the cursor to "Play Movie" and clicked!

Wah again! I didn't know he could do that till now.

Eugene's 1st Crush

2011-03-17T15:39:00.000+08:00

Eugene just love this gal S in the same class as him.

He's always asking about her, running after her and calling her.

Whenever he sees her, he would always try to hold her hand, but S always refuses.

We bumped into S and her grand-ma on our way to class.

Phonics

2011-03-12T05:39:00.000+08:00

The blog that I read frequently has got to be "Our Baby Of Love", especially since the child Darius is about the same age as Eugene.

Darius' parents are very diligent in recording their son's progress and also will very unselfishly blog about what they used or the method they use to help their son progress, like in reading, etc.

They had blogged about the "Leapfrog" dvds which had helped Darius in knowing his phonics and who is now putting words together and reading the words. Wow!, for his age group, I would say that Darius is really advanced.

Well, Eugene does not like to read from a book so I thought he might like and will sit through watching an educational dvd instead. And yes, he likes it.

And I am so pleased that Eugene, after watching the "Leapfrog Letters" dvd for about 3 times, now knows the phonics to all the alphabets. Yay!

A special thanks to the parents of "Our Baby Of Love".

I've only video from A-D only even though he knows the phonics from A-Z.

What's This?

2011-03-11T18:25:00.000+08:00

Eugene was fixing something using this stuff that you can join together.

Mommy! what's this?

Is it a track?

NO!

A skyscraper?

NO!

It's a SSSSS..NAKE! (giving me that incredulous look)

Woman Drivers - Me, Drive?

2011-03-10T23:03:00.000+08:00

Ok, I'm officially those that men will go "aiyah, no wonder so slow", "aiyah, no wonder takes such a long time to park", "aiyah, know how to change lane or not".

Believe it or not - I actually passed my driving test on the 1st try!

On the test day, I took 2 anti-anxiety pills and I was as cool as a cucumber.

Driving Instructor : "when you finished your test hor, don't waste time wait for results, you just go to the counter and get the next test date" - that's how confident my instructor was in me :(

After the test

To Driving Instructor : I passed!

Silence.......

To my dad and brother : I passed!

Silence........

Yep, nobody believed that I passed on the first try.

I got perfect score on the circuit but did rather badly on the road. My marks was borderline, just managed to passed.

Well, that was many, many, many years ago. Didn't really do any driving after that.

Had tried my dad's manual car. I just really cannot co-ordinate fast enough like pressing the brake or gear, clutch all at the same time - very stressful.

Then I tried my hubby's automatic car - ya, so much better, at least I can just concentrate on the driving/steering.

INCIDENTS
(1) was driving so slow that a cyclist actually passed me.

(2) was driving on the right lane and going round the bend on the bridge, suddenly nerves got to me and I slowed down. Had a whole row of cars behind me and hubby had to signal to the drivers behind to pass me.

(3) was turning from a small road to join the big main road. I slowed down and stopped and turn to look behind me to make sure that there were no oncoming cars.
Then the cars behind me started horning and I realised that I actually have my own lane and there was no need to merge. Think hubby was ready to strangle me there and then.

(4) sent hubby to the mrt and was driving home. Hmm........ how come I press the pedal down but the car still going so slow? Must tell hubby, maybe something wrong with car.
When almost home, I realised the reason why - I forgot to release the hand-brake.......duh......

CHANGING LANES

Problem A: Looking at the rear view mirror and side-mirror - can't really sense how far or how close the car behind me is.

Solution A : I sat in the passenger seat and look at the mirror and turn my head to view the car behind in order to have a sense of the distance.

Problem B : You know what the foreigners always complain about our drivers? Why the driver will not give way but instead speed up when you signal to change lanes? Well, it's true!

Whenever I signal, instead of giving way to me, I get those nincompoops speeding up instead.

Solution B : Even though I have a triangle plate (yes, I still stick it), nobody bothers to give way or be patient. So I was thinking, maybe I should put 2, yes 2 ! triangle plates.

I think this way everybody will sure give way to me or at least keep a distance from me because psychologically, they must be thinking that I must be a terrible driver if I need to put up 2 triangle signs instead of 1. And of cos, since cars are so expensive here in Singapore, nobody would want to run the risk of their precious car being accidentally bumped.

Ha, ha, a brilliant idea, no?

REVERSE PARKING

Problem : Again, judging of distance/space problem.

I blame this on the training I had in the circuit. They use poles as markers! Hello, in real life, where got poles?

How did I passed my parking test?

My instructor said, "when you see the pole in your rear-view mirror, do 1 turn, turn until you see the other (right/left) pole in your side-mirror, do another 1-2 turns on your steering wheel" (something like that).

So I did not use my own judgement but very methodically remembered the instructions on when and how many turns on the steering wheel I should do.

But now I'm in the real world, where got poles to guide me har?

Solution :
Hubby said you've got to practise and agard, agard (estimate).

Jalak, I'm not very good at agaration.

So I practised at the multi-storey carpark at the top level in the afternoon where there're less cars and usually deserted.

I don't dare to try to park next to a car, just in case I bumped into it.

So what did I do?

I brought 4 stools as markers for cars. Put one stool on top of the other (one stool, too low, cannot see) to be placed on the right and left, to be like cars on either side.

So if I reverse in and am not careful, I'll just bump into the stools.

Sometimes I'll practise with one side that is a pillar.

And yes, can park now lah though I'm not able to swerve in, in one smooth turn but will stop, judge, turn and reverse, stop, judge, turn and reverse. Hubby said this way is not very good for the tyres, will wear out fast.

I don't think I'm the only one with this kind of distance judging problem. One of my female ex-colleague have the same problem too.

And now it is scientifically proven why it's difficult for women to park.

Quote :

The real reason why women cannot reverse park is because that part of their brain is missing says Pease:

"Parallel parking is located in the right front portion of the brain which relates to visual spatial skill.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology (MRI) for scanning brains has found that 80-85 per cent of women do not have a clearly defined visual spatial area and so find it hard to accurately measure space, distance and speed."

"Depth perception is not the same as spatial visualization, but the two are closely related and you need both skills to manipulate an object in space, which is what you do when you park an automobile"

So there, I've got bad depth perception and spatial visualization.

Of cos, not all woman drivers are terok, I'm just one of those who happened to be in the "terok" camp.

Hopefully, I can go from this..........

to this!.....................

Jiayou!

Laying The Table

2011-03-09T04:25:00.001+08:00

We have started getting Eugene to help out in simple chores like :

(1) switching on the lamps (of cos, with our supervision, making sure that he does not play with the wires)

(2) helping me to beat the eggs when I'm making his cheese omelette (still unable to beat, more like stirring)

and now,

(3) laying the cutlery on the table

OK, I've done this side.....

now for the other side.......

there, all done!

Notice the baby/toddler plastic fork and spoon? Well I had adjusted it straight and Eugene wasn't too happy about it.

I also told him that his spoon should be on the right side (since he's right-handed) but he didn't want to change the position and so I left it at that.

He will switch to the spoon to his dominant hand when he starts eating.

Hmm... maybe he's a bit confused 'cos hubby is left-handed.

Home HeadPhones

2011-03-08T04:15:00.003+08:00

Eugene's very own headphones.

Hubby bought it for him so that he (hubby) can listen to his music on his DIY speakers and tube amplifier while Eugene can watch and listen to his cartoon movie.

The wire's a bit short though. Usually Eugene will be sitting on the sofa instead.

Cube Puzzle

2011-03-07T16:10:00.001+08:00

Eugene got this cube puzzle as a Christmat present.

And it is difficult to do - even for me as you really have to turn and turn and see which fits.

There are no pictures to see so that you know what you're suppose to do and Eugene can only rely on his memory of the characters in Bob-The-Builder.

Trying to piece together "Dizzy" the cement-mixer.

Eugene had tried to do it when he got it during Christmas but it was too difficult for him and he left it till now.

He can only managed to put together 1 or 2 rows before he gave up in frustration.

I tried to help but he would have none of it, saying he would do it himself.

Guess he will get back to it again when he feels he can tackle it.

Car Seat Belt Fastening

2011-03-06T23:56:00.001+08:00

Eugene has finally managed to fasten his own seat belt.

It was a bit difficult for him earlier as it's a double lock seat-belt. When he could fit one lock in, he was not able to fit the other. He was not able to co-ordinate both at the same time.

But now he's able to do it.

Chopstick Handling

2011-03-04T16:32:00.002+08:00

Bought for Eugene a pair of training chopsticks by COMBI.

It had a kind of knob which springs the chopsticks open thus making it easier for the child as he only has to squeeze it close.

And a special 'guide' which makes sure the chopstick does not slide too far down his hand.

And once the child is more adept at handling the chopstick, you can take off the guide and then subsequently take off the round knob and there you have a normal pair of chopsticks!

3 in 1 ! - not bad har.

Training with PlayDoh first.

Now the real stuff!

See video of him below using the training chopsticks. I think he did a fantastic job of handling it.

Wan Hao Tim-Sum

2011-02-28T00:54:00.000+08:00

19 Feb 2011

We were going to Wan Hao restaurant for our lunch at Marriott Hotel and decided to take a bus down instead of driving as the bus-stop is just outside our place.

Also Eugene likes riding in a bus and has been asking to ride in one.

Aiyoh, father and son got that 'smirk smile' , ha ha

Mommy's cool guy.

Gosh, he looked so grown up already.

My friend SY and I used to frequent Wan Hao for tim-sum.

It was a already a bit expensive at that time but now, the price has increased even more and the portion has decreased.

Most of the tim-sum in the basket comes in only 2 pieces! Usually you get 3 or 4.

Well, at least the food is good and service is very good too.

WAN HAO

MARRIOTT HOTEL

6831 4615

HOME

2011-02-24T16:35:00.005+08:00

HOME - the wordings (lyrics below) and the music never fail to leave me teary and with a lump in my throat.

I like both versions though in the new version, I don't really like the rapping, kind of spoil the seriousness of the song but I guess they are trying to make it more upbeat for the youngsters - ya, I old fogey already.

Yes, HOME is where your family and friends are - otherwise as my fren QYL said, it would just be another cosmopolitan city to live in.

So this is dedicated to you QYL, yes you! QYL!

COME HOME!

The old version

The new version

HOME
Whenever I am feeling low
I look around me and I know
There's a place that will stay within me
Wherever I may choose to go
I will always recall the city
Know every street and shore
Sail down the river which brings us life
Winding through my Singapore

Chorus:
This is Home, truly
Where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me
Where that river always flows
This is home, surely
As my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone
For this is where I know it's home

When there are troubles to go through
We'll find a way to start anew
There is comfort in the knowledge
That home's about its people too
So we'll build our dreams together
Just like we've done before
Just like the river which brings us life
There'll always be Singapore

Chorus:
This is Home, truly
Where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me
Where that river always flows
This is home, surely
As my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone
For this is where I know it's home

Chorus Repeat

This is Home, truly
Where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me
Where that river always flows
This is home, surely
As my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone
For this is where I know it's home
(For this is where I know, I'm HOME)

Composed by Dick Lee
Original singer Kit Chan

All the singers of the new version of HOME.

Chinese New Year 2011 - with long time friends

2011-02-21T16:47:00.000+08:00

11 Feb 2011

Gathering with my long time good friends at my place.

These 'lo-hei' pics were taken by Eugene. Hence some chopped off heads, ha ha...

The Pro at work.

Eugene's artistic shots.

Happy Rabbit Lunar New Year!

and

See Ya Next Year!

Chinese Stress

2011-02-20T16:45:00.001+08:00

Chinese stress - for me!

Every lesson that Eugene attended once a week, he will be given a booklet and a set of the words that he learned in class.

We, as parents have to revise the booklet and flash-cards during the week before the next lesson.

Now, my Chinese is really, very bad and so is hubby.

For the first two lessons - hmm..... ok leh, I can read it.

Then everything went downhill from there. Four, five lessons later - wah, can't recognise most of the words and this is only at toddler stage.

So, how?

Now, I have to ask my neigbour's son who was from Pei Chun for his help. Quite embarrassing lor, he must be laughing his head off behind closed door.

Olympus Camera Misleading Advertisement

2011-02-20T00:14:00.001+08:00

I was thinking of getting a camera. Was thinking of Lumix when I came across this advertisement of the latest Olympus camera - the Olympus XZ-1.

Wow, the pic got nice depth for such a small camera which is not a DSLR....... till I saw the small print that reads "Photo taken with Olympus DSLR (E-5 + 12-60mm F2.8 - 3.5 lens).
What the ????

The fine print - up close...

If you are going to show how a photo turns out, you use the camera that you're advertising, right? - not another camera range. What is the purpose?

If I had not read the fine print, I would obviously presume that the photo was taken by the XZ-1.

Now instead of wowing me , one gets a bit put off by the advert as well as doubting what was being advertised.

Why do you need to use another camera? Is it the XZ-1 is not capable of doing what is being advertised - which is as you put it - "DSLR can do it, so can XZ-1"?

Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk .......

Barracks Cafe @ Dempsey

2011-02-19T23:32:00.000+08:00

09 Feb 2011

Today happened to be my in-law's wedding anniversary and as well as 'everbody's birthday'.

Nice ambience.

I ordered the Red Snapper (fish as usual for me, not much of a meat person).

Oh, so delicious the broth was.

Hubby had the Ahi Taki Salad - good too.

My ma-in-law had the Lobster Linguine - it was dry and tough. Why, oh why nobody can cook a tender lobster - it was the same story at Angus.

Think my pa-in-law had Steak which was also good.

Except for the disappointing Lobster pasta, the rest of the dishes were above average.

I will definitely come back to try the rest of the menu like Squid Ink Paella and Truffles Fries.

Hey kakis, shall this be our next gathering place?

Barracks Cafe

80 Dempsey Road

Tel : 6475-7787

http://www.dempseyhouse.com/

The Kid Said........ (1)

2011-02-15T17:06:00.002+08:00

(1) Walking back home together after Eugene's class, Eugene picked up a purple flower on the pavement.

Me : is it for me?
Eugene : no, for me
Me : I like flowers too...
Eugene stopped in his track : I'll go pick another!

Eugene went to pick up another flower.

I thought that he would just pick any flower on the pavement but he actually looked and picked up a couple to look at it and discarded those that was really wilted and flattened.

He managed to pick the nicest one that he could find.

Aww........... I felt a lump in my throat.

(2) Eugene was hyper-active.

Me : stop being a monkey (sounding exasperated)
Eugene : I'm not a monkey. I'm Eugene, Eugene L* Y* G*** (his full name).

(3) Hubby going out to meet some friends.

Me : where is daddy going?
Eugene : to meet galfren
Hubby & Me : ???!!!

(4) We passed by an elderly Singh. He was chubby with a pot-belly, white moustache and beard and of cos wearing his turban.

Eugene : hello Santa Claus!!!

I quickly pulled Eugene away before the man could react. A young malay couple was behind us and had a good laugh.