testimony

a fellow church member, tong shared a testimony of his recent trip to china with his cousins. apparently, the train that they were on suddenly came to a halt (despite being 2 stations away) when the designated time of knocking off from work struck. haha, that's the standard of china service, i guess. they had to lug their luggage and descended from the station to walk a long way to find a taxi. it was total blackout with no street lights, according to him, and the whole place was like a deserted grassland, surrounded by pirated taxi drivers. the charges quoted for a nearby destination were exorbitant. he was unwilling to pay but was fully aware of the danger that he was placed in. the taxi drivers told them,"你今晚是回不到酒店的!" didn't that sound like a threat,"pay up or u will perish here!" he quickly made a prayer seeking for god's help. soon, a taxi turned up at his steps with a caucasian couple exiting from it. tong and his cousin quickly sneaked in and hurried the cab driver to make his way, eager to get away from the 'clutches' of the pirated fellows. in the cab, he asked the driver,"what's the caucasian couples doing at this late hour by coming to such a deserted place?" truly, the driver had no idea at all. in the end, tong came to a conclusion that GOD has heard his prayer and had sent ANGELS to save him out of his plight. indeed, GOD is great and works wonders, if u place your faith in him. AMEN!

joy's dance competition

the run-up to joy's dance competition in sch this thur is exciting. but, the prep is really no joking matter. but she has clearly learnt so much from it.... 1) it's impt to be upright in leadership style, else one is bound to face setbacks at some stage. 2) it's wise to speak up at the rite time to let your thots be understood, else u will be seen as easy 'pusharounds'. 3) hard work comes before achievements. 4) staying focused on the main objective, not winning the competition alone that will ruin team spirit. with some twist of events and exit of 2 main roles, she's seeing more team comraderie and spirit in the group. best of all, she's been charged with the lyrical hiphop choreography job, which she enjoys , but cited difficulty when it comes to positioning pple. well, i gave her tips that she should design the dance steps such that every one gets to move from front to back, and vice versa, so visibility wouldnt be limited to just one or two persons. she agreed. in the course of all rehearsals, she 's getting affirmation from her fellow members of her aptitude and skills, and that's sure a confidence booster. truly, i'm seeing joy developing into a more mature personality when it comes to 'show biz'! she might even consider putting up a dance show at hwa chong int'l this yr with other friends from her pte studio, although daddy teased her,"wouldn't the nerds from the top sch 喷鼻血seeing all the shaking movements?" well, stage performance can be an addiction, according to joy. once u hv done it, u will keep wanting to do it, coz' it's so enjoyable. and for my dear hubby, he should take pride in his daughter's ability to cause the boys' noses to bleed, coz' more often than not, these nerds' eyes are droopy after so much mugging of books!

what makes a kid happy?

i was sharing with a mother if she had noticed that her daughter is smiling less nowadays...and seems to be burdened with sth in the heart. she said,"no. my girl is very articulate. she will talk and let me know what's going on.." i related some recent events of my observation and thought it might be good for her to be aware of her daughter's mood...maybe, it's mood swing. then, she casually told me that the girl has a precious diary whom she will write to almost daily which is also under locks....and one day, an accidntal peep into the contents surprised her as the young child wrote about sth very sensitive, dealing with love affairs. apparently, someone has told her that he likes her and she's probably confused.....she went into depth about hw she felt and it was mostly words of disgust, instead of uplifting. the irony part was the mom couldn't even check with her on the matter coz' it was supposed to be a hush-hush diary affair. then, the brother commented that everywhere the sister goes, she will bring the diary with her...even during recess in school, she will walk around with the diary. then, the mother recollected that the young girl recently expressed her dislike for learning piano....not that she couldn't do it, but she just did'nt enjoy playing although she has a great piano teacher! from mom's point of view, it's great for a girl to grow up with music, dance and art interest, particularly when the well-to-do grandparents also grew up with such exposures. this lil girl was also trained to dance at young age, but eventually dropped off having shown no interest. she asked," shouldnt we teach our kids about perseverance rather than take everything into their own hands of whims and fancy?" for all u knw, the dislike could be a passing phase too! haha, that's a hard question to answer. but, in singapore, u drop out of sth, u can easily pick up another interest. take claire, for instance, out of violin and into hip hop....and re-picking her art interest in p4 after quitting in p1. so, to me, we hv to learn to balance the needs of learning of our kids. ultimately, it's really how long the passion can last them? if it's just learning for few grades in piano, then it will be for leisure playing. if it's a case of wanting to teach, then it's a long long journey....check joy out, haha!

hw to define a good childhood

i was at bedok south hawker centre for bfst ystday. at the nasi lemak stall, claire pointed at the cockles and asked me,"what's that?" i replied," cockles. or 'hum' in dialect. a shell item that we used to take when we were kids, helping popo to open up with our nails (hence causing ruined nails) and then eat with chilli.." then the hawker looked at me and said,"现在的小孩子很可怜，连xi hum也没不懂！我们以前小时候还是自己去海边挖来吃！现在的孩子只会对着死气沉沉的电脑玩，一点也不懂得玩的乐趣！" truly, aren't we glad that we out of school? sch work is burdensome, with necessity out of discussion issue. he commented that he has 2 grown-up sons in the 20s while the youngest boy is only 10. the eldest kids are in the university and one of them, in the course of an exchange program in cambodia, came back with the feeling that, we are a load of lucky citizens living in singapore. in terms of security and comfort, yes, we are indeed lucky. but to survive well these days in the midst of increased competitive environment, kids hv to be taught the capacity to absorb stress in their lives, understanding that stress is part of living. a friend told me the other day,"i hv great relationship with my girl until she enters P1! so, i hv to outsource to tutors to teach her!" i mean, how can i not reckon with such a statement? stress level for parents is none lower than the kids, afterall! even for our PAP ruling party, much hv been done for our nation. but, there's always unhappy ending with certain rulings....i was just telling hubby that while all polices implemented are meant to achieve certain desirable effects, unfortunately, some might not.....look at higher coe and car prices, and yet the traffic condition is never seriously addressed! well, that's the whole issue about striking the right balance..the ruling party also has to test water! at the end of the day, we hpe there's always a guiding light for us to see our path and learn from mistakes, no matter how tiny they are.....isn't that how we always teach our kids? (p/s: hope the ultimate outcome of my text will not be wrappped up in one big para chunk...for that, i will faint!)

no response?

a friend shared that she got mad with her girl who gave no response to the mom's calling. when being questioned, the girl said,"i thot u wanted me to do sth again!" how sad a reply that was, right? kids not responding simply because of misunderstood thinking that 'it's time to do extra work again!" i wonder if that's the reason why sometimes, when we communicate with our kids, they dun respond too much? parents seem to be at kids' mercy these days.....they need to be reminded about the authority at home, their roles as children etc....failing which, they might just slip into the mentality that 'they are free to express their views and appear rude, sometimes'! i had to remind my kids every now and then, that whatever the case, family comes before individualistic self. without family, there's no support ie. 没有避风港。home is really where our hearts should belong.....pple without a home yearns so much for the warmth and love that a home can provide. but those who possess a home just take it for granted.....that's a sin.

disappearing cash?

hubby casually told the girls that he would be depositing some money into their accounts. joy was thrilled, as she exclaimed,"daddy, u r really very nice to us leh, these days!" claire followed up with "becoz our savings money has disappeared. dunno where it has gone to?" the macho man also played along,"ya lor, dunno where the bank account money has gone to?" well, the account has since been closed. only he and i knew what was going on. an investment gone awry...haha. well, i suggested that he could present the money as a gift when they reach 21, according to his promise of $1000 a year. how lucky these 2 girls are....i'm only afraid they will choose not to get married for lives. afterall, there's a financial sponsor who has made such a commitment to them....sgd1000 a year, not bad eh!

sudoku?

haha, sudoku? anyone for a try? a stdt first approached me some years back to help solve the puzzle. i didn't quite bother, coz' it wasnt my cup of tea. then, it was chow who told me about his love for this puzzle game; it seemed like he tackled the puzzle daily, from the newspaper publish. i still wasnt keen about this thingie. who knws, many mths ago, i was killing time while waiting for my girls in the car, took out my mobile and started fiddling with the game. so, which level am i nw? from easy, to medium, and now i'm pretty able to handle the 'hard' category within reasonable time. what's interesting about this game? well, it basically trains the mind to scan quickly, in vertical and horizontal manner. so, i'm hoping this process will make me smarter, as more of my neuron cells will get connected. life is all about finding new things to try.....what previously didnt excite me might not stay status quo. this reminds me about the need to explore new stuff to feel challenged in life.