This day Rockstar decided his outfit needed a little something extra.
A tad much?
Nahh…
Not wanting to be left out, Queen E then had to have her tongue pierced.
There!
Hah! Gotcha! Before I get a call, NO she did not get anything else pierced, she got a hat, thank God (because otherwise we will be chasing her about with a dropper of non-alcoholic disinfectant to keep the fresh piercings clean.. but in case you thought I’m germ freaky to be germ freaky – uh, no. I’m germ freaky about this (and say, clean toilets) because I’m LAZY. D’you have any idea how much more work these things are when they have bacterial infections or UTI <signs to ward off evil>??
By “things” I mean “children.” And I’ll have you know my thing about UTI is because a former colleague, seasoned equity trader (a.k.a Has Stomach Of Steel) no less, once described with tears in his eyes how his 6 year old child had to have one of those perpetual antibiotic drips taped to her hand for a severe UTI. She then screamed such bloody murder when they were putting the thing in her and trying to tape up the drip that he had to hold her down. She therefore proceeded to pummel his head and chest with her other fist. Can’t remember if his glasses broke when they went flying.
I mean, this is 15 years ago and I suppose technology has advanced enough now. They probably have drugs for this sort of thing. We see it on tv all the time, the darts they use to bring down the lions for tagging on National Geographic, or the mutant children for experimentation on Xmen II.
But y’know, just in case <shrugs>
ps: Eye test by HK Govt for free, just scheduling is a little tough because obviously you mostly have to take whatever timing they give you, unless you wanna go private. But they do followups and everything also for free and are pretty thorough. They write the prescription and then you take it to any lens shop.
Queen E came with, sporting a couple Trolls in her pockets, for good measure. They took one look at them and I heard “Oh, ESF” in Cantonese. Dunno what that was but since the kids didn’t go batshit or steal any facemasks off the counter to draw happy faces on, I hope it was a good impression
Rockstar really liked the govt optician guy, who said just have a pair handy and rest his eyes to keep the short-sightedness from getting worse… and he doesn’t have to wear glasses during games or on the playground etc.
Parenting has a horrible way of kicking your pride in the behind (a.k.a. the bigger your ego, the bigger your ego’s behind) when you least expect it…
Queen E: (watching Trolls) Listen to those trumpets.
Me: How d’you know those are trumpets? None of those ridiculous animals jumping about is holding a trumpet.
Queen E: Just li-sten. You can hear trumpets.
Me: <thinking: Wow those really are trumpets. I didn’t even know she could tell what trumpets sound like.(For real though, she probably picked it up in Kindy because now I remember her saying they’ve been playing music from the Trolls soundtrack in class)>
Then at Cantonese Music Class:
Queen E: This song. It’s this song again. I said I would not be doing this song.
Me: <thinking: don’tpanic don’tpanicdon’tpanicAileen there’s only 9 other super obedient little boys and girls in this class who seem to know everything and chirpily volunteer all the right answers while you struggle to translate the Cantonese for Her Highness and wait for her to work out the answer to the question from 20 minutes ago> <as calmly as I can> You refused to play it weeks ago, when you were allowed to choose what you wanted to play for your friends. This is a different lesson, this is all of us playing it together.
Queen E: We agreed I would not be playing it.
Me:This is different!! Last time, you could choose which one you didn’t want to play. This lesson you have to play it, it’s part of the class.
Queen E: <calmly> No I don’t. When (teacher) comes, I’ll say, “I’m not playing this.” <sings> I’m-not. Play-ing thissss……. <trails off>
Me: How are you going to get out of playing it when it’s your turn. <immediately regrets asking>
Queen E: Like this- <pretends to be asleep>
Me: Nobody believes you’re really asleep!
Queen E: <still with her eyes closed><slowly sinks under the keyboard>
Me: <thinking: OMG. How’m I going to dig that limp body out? And… is there room under there for me too?>
Queen E’s friend: What’s Queen E doing?
Queen E: <from halfway under the keyboard> I’m sleeping.
Me: <snaps> You are obviously not asleep.
Queen E: I’m talking in my sleep.
Me: How about playing this in your sleep.
Queen E: <pretends to be asleep>
Mercifully only half the class has to play, before they move on to something else…
Me: You can stop it now. “The coast is clear”. Sigh.
Queen E: <gamely sits back up in her seat>
Me: What would’ve happened if you had to play it?
Queen E: I’ll have to give up music.
Me: How about I give up parenting.
Queen E: You still have to take care of Ko-ko.
—————————————————————————————————
Queen E: Mummy I need to put a sign in front of my house. I need help to spell something?
Me: Sure darling, what do you need help spelling? Hello? Welcome?
Queen E: Can you please spell “Every-cat-get-out-of-my-house-and-don’t-come-back-in”?
Me: ??
Rockstar: <indignant> Is that how you’re treating your cats? I’m not giving you any more cats.
Me: ???
Queen E: Ok, ok, then instead, how d’you spell “I-like-gwapes”.
Me: …You now want… the sign in front of your house to read “I like grapes”.
Queen E: “…And bananas.”
Rockstar: <mollified, turns back to laptop without another word>
Me: What just happened?
Queen E: I don’t like bananas. I love bananas.
—————————————————————————————————
Playing a game in the car…
Queen E: I’m thinking of an animal…
Rockstar: Is it a cat?
Queen E: Yes and you’re not allowed to speak anymore.
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT (but betcha watch the show anyways 🙂 )
Was getting Queen E little Trolls Legos and the shop lady asked what was so special about Trolls because she was considering ordering more stock…
We also bought a Trolls potting set, following both kids having gardening activities in their schools…
Rockstar actually carried a piece of radish in his hand all the way home from school one day, just to see that face when he fed it to her
…and of course Queen E has to photobomb the plants we were buying for the pot, in Wellcome
(Thought Gemma would like to clamber on it, but she was unimpressed – truly a City pet – on an aside, Queen E left the cage open again recently and we found Gemma curled up in a ball surrounded by lots of little paper bits, near about 5 of Rockstar’s books that had their spines chewed up in the night)
We happened on the Trolls movie by chance, after a trailer in which one of these hideous things pooped cupcakes, inspiring Queen E to drag Rockstar to see it after school one day.
SOLD. -pic from daytunes.com
He sat there guffawing at the absurd animals and colours, “My eyes! Oh, my eyes!”
I mean, how ridiculous is this choir, singing Sound of Silence? – pic from freshfiction.tv
Even Rockstar however cannot fault how awesome the music was.
Way up front in the mostly-empty cinema, two little heads are bobbing enthusiastically, very long blonde curls flying about. Soon, the little girls are prancing back and forth in the aisle in front of their seats. Way behind us are a bunch of Singapore International School kids still in uniform. Idly, I realise I can detect no Singlish being spoken. I also count maybe 10 “LOL”s in their conversation.
Queen E’s new favourite song is True Colours. (Not sure she can actually sing, but she’s been very interested in the lyrics)…
“I see your true colours, and that’s why I love you So don’t be afraid to let them show… Your true colours are beautiful…”
So I told her it means you are loved for who you are, not who you might try to be, or the parts of you that you try to hide.
Meet the true heroine of Trolls, the Movie:
Bridget, a “Bergen” of the lowest social standing, who thinks no one will ever love her for who she is – pic from webneel.com
Ok lemme back up a bit.
This is King Gristle Sr, Bergen King who declares an Eat A Troll Day once a year, where the Trolls are harvested like fruit – pic from webneel.com
Now we’ve (finally) come to why this story is so awesome: It’s a story of the Bergens believing they must achieve this… thing – catching and eating a Troll – in order to be happy. They stake their happiness on being able to do this.
Naturally, the Trolls stage a jailbreak to escape being eaten. There is this horrifying (to me) moment when little Prince Gristle crawls into his dad’s lap, looks up all vulnerable and expectant into his dad’s face and asks, “Will I ever be happy?” and gets “Uh… no. You will never, ever, ever be happy.” Freak out. Now.
pic from wisconsin gazette (which also describes Trolls as a “big-hearted sensory overload”)
Troll Princess Poppy grows up super cute and popular… and all about having a good time. Her irresponsibility leads to the Trolls being discovered and some of them captured after she ignores another troll’s warning and he throws at her, “I can’t believe you’re going to be Queen one day!” It’s really not sugar-coated. I like. This is how different children’s entertainment is nowadays. I also like that she’s made Queen after she has proven she can handle the responsibility.
Traditional Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White etc stories are a pet peeve – they all revolve around princesses who wait to be rescued by princes who are – get this – taken by their beauty and therefore whisk them off to live happily ever after in castles. (I told Rockstar this, and he said the story of Mulan is way better – think he mentioned it was a Y6 play at his school; on an aside, this is one of the benefits of a big school – the kids show projects amongst themselves and across the years, Rockstar recently came home from a Y6 Science Exhibition having won… a Pokemon drawing to bring home and colour.)
(Normally, Rockstar hates colouring, but this time he actually googled the correct colours for this thing, having rattled off the facts he repeated in the quiz from the exhibition posters prepared by the Y6 students. And btw – a Y6 kid drew this cartoon?? Quite nice right…!)
Anyway, back to the story – faced with an actual Trial by Fire, Princess Poppy then shows her true mettle.
–
–
Her positivity helps her get really far, while being chased by weird animals and eaten by strange plants (did they have a Kids’ Design-A-Creature Competition for this, because these things look really, really creative.)
It’s however Bridget, mistreated and lowliest-of-the-low Bergen, who sets an example of selflessness and courage. Charged with delivering the captured Trolls at the Bergen dinner, she instead sets them free – then goes into the banquet hall alone with the empty dish, to face the wrath of the hungry, miserable Bergens, allowing the Trolls enough time to escape. Instead, all the Trolls turn back, to stand by their new friend:
–
https://youtu.be/XvqghqS2eOo
So that’s the happy ending – everyone learns Bridget’s lesson, one she arrives at despite having lived a subservient and miserable existence mistreated by other Bergens, in miserable Bergen Town:
“Happiness Comes From Within.”
–
Epilogue: Branch’s singing voice was so awesome I went to Google it and that’s how I realised he’s voiced by none other than former Mickey Mouse Club-er Justin Timberlake who also does the music for the show. Double approve. Because at the back of my mind is a caveat re Mickey Mouse Club, High School Musical etc…
This is Justin Timberlake and his sometime girlfriend Britney Spears when they were tweens on Mickey Mouse Club – pic from snakkle.com
Here are other former Mickey Mouse Club-ers/ Disney Channel-ers. From left to right, Lindsay Lohan, Vanessa Hudgens, Christina Aguilera (pics from baklol.com)….
…and Miley Cyrus – this is what she looked like when she first auditioned for Hannah Montana – pic from backstage.com
You do not need “after” pics to get my point right? 😛
Disney surely has an eye for talent and musical ability (and for a long time I didn’t give Justin Timberlake credit until Trolls). Why wouldn’t little girls everywhere want to be like these talented little girls on tv, and why wouldn’t their parents be fine with it, they look so sweet, don’t they? I’d want my kids to look like these super happy, talented, bubbly kids. The problem is, then they become… legal 😀 . And showbiz is…… showbiz.
One of the managers at a frequent playdate haunt of ours is a fairly new and doting dad of a little girl, and he was initially so sure Miley Cyrus became the Miley We Know Today because of…. “a bloke.” (That’s the default assumption right haha speaking of which, Miley has been linked not just with Liam Hemsworth but Peter Schwarzenneger.) In reality however she and Britney Spears share a manager who in some accounts is given the erm, credit for her image change. She wanted to shock (and horrify I guess) with her career image in mind, and so that’s exactly what she did.
Thing is, Miley is the daughter of country superstar Billy Ray Cyrus (who initially was quite unhappy with her whole twerking act) and godmother Dolly Parton stated “…the girl can write. The girl can sing. The girl is smart. And she doesn’t have to be so drastic…” In 2011 at around the age of 18, she already made top 10 wealthiest teens in Hollywood with a net worth of around USD 120 million. So I can I put this towards Rockstar Career Advice Part III (multi-shudders): Your job will affect who you are.
Hence my aside about child stars. Supposedly your child being an independently high-earning superstar is like a dream come true and there must be parents out there who are (deservingly) super proud of their child’s considerable acting/singing/dancing etc abilities. But Murphy’s Law of No Free Lunch (yes I make these up as I go along) implies there is a risk, or cost.
Kirsten Dunst was a tween when she achieved widespread recognition for her nomination at the Golden Globes as Best Supporting Actress alongside Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in Interview With A Vampire.
Dunst as Claudia – pic from Wikipedia.com
Awesome, right? Ok lemme expand on her role – she was required to play the part of a little girl turned into a vampire by those two adult male heartthrobs. While the movie has an 11 or 12 year old Dunst playing the part of a mature woman in a child’s body kissing Brad Pitt (bad enough right), the original critically acclaimed book (which forever horrified me as a teenager) places huge emphasis on Claudia being… 5.
As a 5 year old child she is turned into a vampire and matures in mind and emotions into a woman…… trapped for all eternity in the body of the 5 year old little girl. (I suppose this is inspired by Sybil, who asks the Greek god Apollo for eternal life, but forgets to ask for eternal youth. She becomes trapped for a thousand years in an ever failing body, unable to find the blessed release of death.) This slowly drives her to intense hatred and insanity. Now to my point. You can have a talented child play that, and do intense hand holding as the child grows up (and btw becomes of age to legally be able to make their own mistakes decisions, which may affect other kids who recognise the face behind the character they identify with) or you can use a computer animation. You could even make the computer animation hot pink with sparkles for freckles. Just saying…
Rockstar had school Y5 Camp last week; we took bets when Queen E would miss him.. When she heard, Queen E even told her bro she would not be missing him because she was “too busy”. After all, she would have her own Kindergarten Sports Day to think of. He went to war with those last words from his sister.
Then first day Rockstar won’t be coming home we happen to try a new kind of pizza after school, and she declares he would normally be there snacking as well, and so the last slice is his. She then guards it and checks on it (or rather checks on me to make sure it’s still in the fridge) each day. No one is allowed to touch it. She won’t eat it and let me get a fresh pizza either. (In retrospect, I should’ve just replaced it quietly.)
So we preserve the slice (this is actually gross isn’t it) throughout the duration of camp, and when it’s over I greet him with, “Uh… there’s this piece of pizza you have to eat when we get home, ok…..”
They split it in the end… (And no that trophy did not come from Y5 Camp…. or Kindy Sports Day.. )
We had CNBC on as background noise around our latest batch of tie-dye projects, and Queen E was extremely disappointed “the girl” didn’t beat “Donald Trunk,” funny Youtubes notwithstanding. So this one’s for her…
I don’t believe Hillary Clinton’s loss had anything to do with her being a woman. I think she lost because she was less “real,” and people saw that. So really, the thing Her Highness is gonna take home from Donald Trunk Becoming President is he didn’t try to be someone else so people might like him more. Like it or lump it Americans, you get the hair, the sometime orange tan and the blustering, outrageous statements for President, if you vote for Trump. (If you didn’t vote Trump then I’m so sorry.)
As someone who has a daughter, in this case I hope Hillary being a woman never comes up. I don’t like the articles calling this “a blow to women.” (Yeah I know she is one, but it should never have been about that. The Democrats didn’t choose a candidate so she could potentially be First Woman President, after President Obama was First Black President, did they? Surely not, since picking candidates because they are female vs picking candidates because they are not female = same difference. Like any hedge trade, it cuts both ways. Not to mention there are other world leaders and high achievers who are female, scroll to the end.)
In an old episode of Fictitious-Yet-Not-Really West Wing, the very feminine and brilliant blonde-and-blue-eyed Republican character of Ainsley Hayes argues, “It’s humiliating. A new amendment we vote on declaring that I am equal under the law to a man. I am mortified to discover there is reason to believe I wasn’t before. I am a citizen of this country, I am not a special subset in need of your protection…” – Quote from a multi award-winning often idealistic show in the States about what happens when good men (and women) work in the White House from (already) more than a decade ago.
Now the rub – if you are female and choose to have a (biological) child. Because no matter how enlightened, how fearless, how bright and capable you think you are, you are still the one who has to carry the child. Your body will not be your own for about a year. Two, if you breastfeed for the standard recommended year. Like it or not, you are the one born with the womb. The true beauty of the world today for women in this respect however, is you have a choice. (Not… always a good thing, but still a privilege. Terrifying, but… a privilege.) Chances are, your priorities will change at least for a few years – even if, perhaps even more so if, you adopted (I have friends who once struggled with infertility).
After Rockstar was born, I came back from my standard 2.5 month maternity leave to a male senior RM conversationally mentioning that nursing would mean you need to seriously watch your work “aggro” levels, citing his own nursing wife as an example – he thought it made a difference to their child’s personality, whether the mum was all “zen” while pregnant/nursing 😛 (Since I was predominantly dealing for him/his team I particularly appreciate his sincerity because he could’ve instead said something like “you better not get mummy juice in your investments products recommendations for my team ok…!”) One of the other things thrown around was You See You See Battling Compliance Dept While Preggers Now The Baby Issa Monster (Come on, it was a dealing room. Trump is President. Sympathy laugh anyone? <ducks head back down>)
There’s hormones, pregnancy, not being able to take the gadzillion medications you would otherwise not think twice about taking, to zap that annoying cold that is putting you off your game at work. (Sure, after that you can stuff Baby Daddy with the stay-at-home-parent bit, but there is no getting away from the actual pregnancy and nursing.)
Unless you’re with this guy 😀 (pic from wikipedia.com)
(Seriously, Arnie, you just HAD to have EVERYTHING, didn’t you?) – pic from alamy.com
Certainly I have friends who love their work (and paycheck) so much they have chosen not to have kids ever. Also some who think surrogacy would be a marvellous idea someday. Also not a few who struggled with infertility. (Again: Choice is a privilege.)
But, Queen E, if you choose to have a mum experience for the most part and are not Arnold Schwarzenneger, then you cannot have it all. And that has nothing to do with social perception. You are simply of the gender born with the womb. If you choose to use it (and are so blessed as to be able to), you’re going to have to think about raising your rockstar. And I’m not sure when you actually manage to farm off that real responsibility, whatever form it takes in your family.
First Woman to head the IMF Christine Lagarde (nominated by Queen Rania of Jordan, no less)
Simone Biles, overcoming childhood exposure to drugs and alcohol to win 10 world championships.
In Biles’ words: I’d rather regret the risk that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.
What is your greatest risk? Mine is…. having kids. Taking a time out from my former work life, the only life I used to envision for myself when I was growing up, to raise kids and be present as a parent. It’s the most terrifying, rewarding, did I mention terrifying… choice.
Oh, and you do it knowing you could strive to do everything “right” and your kid could still grow up to be….
Rockstar: Mum. Donald Trump will win the US elections. He will be the next President.
Me: OMG What? Why would you say that? <thinking: Is this like Paul The Psychic Octopus predicting World Cup outcomes?>
Imma Psychic Octopus – pic from Wikipedia.com
Rockstar: Look at all these great videos! Hey Queen E – finally, a Frozen video I like.
–
(The People who make these Frozen or Poke Youtubes of the nominees probably have children… (Like, why else would someone watch Frozen :D) I wouldn’t know Olaf from Poke if not for my kids…)
Rockstarism: He’s so. Funny!
Me: Uh…. These aren’t made by anyone in the Donald camp, I don’t think the people who made these videos actually like Donald Trump very much.
Rockstar: President Obama’s got nothing like this! (He tried, though – Kid President is a Youtube personality with some special needs, who started Youtubing because he couldn’t run outside and play as much as other kids)
–
–
Rockstar: There’s a Pokemon Theme Song one too! The Pokemon People like (Donald Trump)! (To be fair, the Pokemon People also made one of Hillary Clinton, but – guess what? It had wayyy fewer hits.)
Me: That’s not… meant to be a… good thing.
Rockstar: What? No way. Look at this stuff. They are so funny. And there are so many.
https://youtu.be/u0BYqzdiuJc
–
Me: D’you even know who’s running against him?
Rockstar: What? Who, against President Obama’s party, right? The Demo – democretians.
Me: He might just be smarter than we think we know. Like when everyone thought the Terminator wouldn’t make Governor of California but he even won a re-election.
pic from wikipedia.com
(And, according to Storypick.com, Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t even take a salary as a public servant)
“I’ll Be Back” – no kidding. This Austrian Immigrant who made marrying a Kennedy a life goal really did, and was. What, you thought the Immigrants in the States only looked like “other” people?
Queen E: <authoritatively> Mummy. Did you watch the latest Donald Trunk video.
Me: Excuse me? No –
Queen E: You should, Mum-may. He’s good.
Me: Oh really, did you watch the latest Donald Duck video?
Queen E: Who’s that, is he like, a chicken nugget?
Ps: Quite happy she doesn’t know Donald Duck actually, never know what the duck is saying anyways
~900 kids attend Rockstar’s school… not counting their siblings or friends who come with… and the party goes on on a couple floors, in the gym, in the classrooms too…
Over the PA system… “Books are now HKD 50 a bag. 50 dollars a bag. Thank you.”…
It was also boiling that night, by the time I thought to take a picture off one of the balconies, people had seriously started shedding their costumes..
…and in this playground which the kids are occasionally helping to turn into a Ghost Train for the night… every year I take early setup shift because there’s a long queue to get in when the party starts. In earlier years it also allowed Rockstar to explore quietly without being scared out of his mind by the resident ghouls (and their siblings) who attend classes with him by day and morph into monsters haunting this thing by night. A favourite costume is School Zombie – fake blood over old school uniform. We dont do the scary but we love the whole dress up costume thing…
Then it’s home to clean up and get dressed…
But not before I take a pic of this… Rockstar as a Y1 stayed in the Cheese Brothers clown show session after session, and even now he’s a Y5 he still enjoys some good old fashioned clowning
And – Uh.. what is the Queen doing?
Well anyway, kids go home and have proper veggies-filled dinners. Neither one will eat more than a piece or two of candy, even Queen E came up with the brainwave of spitting out half-eaten candy the moment she’s had enough of it (Go Figure), and every year I eventually throw out the extras anyway.. I normally hate to see food wasted but the alternative is the junk goes in you? umm… I pounce on any opening the kids’ schools provide – dropped by Queen E’s at snack time one day after she skipped breakfast and her table buddies are happily showing me sugar free cereal (another time on playdate it was organic coconut), and Rockstar just came home reminding me his apples are to be only organic (apples top the lists of highest-pesticide foods).
Anyway back to this – and the rockstars back for the night… To see their rockstars…
Spot the Stuffed Animal: The Clowns Haz Animal Exactly Like Her Highness’ – Affirmation! (Too bad I didn’t get a pic while they were holding it earlier it’s now on the table)
This one was taken at 9.48pm after they announced ages ago that all the hard partying animals need to find their way home 😀
I Haz A Tail
Imma Umbreon.
pic from deviantart.com
Epilogue:
Rockstar says there was someone wearing a President Obama mask with a t-shirt saying “I’m Donald Trump” LOL… My personal favourite however was a gorgeous tween girl in black tee and jeans and biker boots…. sporting the 1.5ft-high horns and lush black feathered wings from Maleficent.
she was really wearing headgear that fit like this ok… pic from disney.movies.co.uk
And Her Highness… was pikachu all Halloween weekend. We washed and dried the outfit overnight for a few nights.
This is the pikachu having her own rock concert the morning after.
ps: Here’s an analogy I tell the kids, re eating junk: Fill your body with good fuel, reap the benefits in how your body serves you on the playground. Run longer, be able to tag all your friends…..
Lightning McQueen uses good fuel! (pic from Youtube.com)
Fill your body with junk, and feel the difference…
Big US Election coming up, you knew this was gonna happen, right?
In the first Trump-Clinton presidential debate, Trump claims to have stopped short of embarrassing Clinton re her husband’s indiscretions because her 36 year old daughter Chelsea was there.
pic of Chelsea and her father at the debate from similar article at dailymail.co.uk
“…just what my reaction has been …every time Trump has gone after …my family, which is that it’s a distraction from his inability to talk about what’s actually at stake in this election and to offer concrete, comprehensive proposals about the economy,” “…or our public school system, or debt-free college, or keeping our country safe and Americans safe here at home and around the world.”
…proving, if nothing else, that the people who take the cheap shots are on both sides of the camp, and that they don’t leave your kids alone.
Rockstar was once friends and classmates for a year or two with the child of a fairly well-known, recognisable HK movie/tv star. Through the years, we got to know the parents. One day maybe 5 years ago, they issued a press release with some negative and otherwise personal information. In the weeks that followed, we watched local paparazzi follow this family around – during the worst of it they wouldn’t even acknowledge us on the street, rounding a corner before texting us, in case we didn’t want our picture taken with them. They told us that when they requested local gossip magazines not follow them in transit, instead informing them of their final destination so as not to be jostled along the way, they were told, “You can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you let us take clear shots of your family (including their child), or we stay in your face on the public street until we get the shots we want.”
(Gossip would not exist if people didn’t pay good money for it. It’s like pornography, where freedom of speech might give you that right, but it is also your choice to simply not. Look. Not pay for it. Not write it.)
But, I digress. Back to the kids of the presidential hopefuls and what-nots.
Fortunately of course, these kids are grownups who have lived with this kind of pressure and attention their entire lives so I suppose this is rather an occupational hazard. Thing is, you usually get to choose your occupation. You do not get to choose your parents or your kids. You are meant to make careful exploration of the hand you are dealt, so you can sink yourself into that, make the most of it. (Oh, and “do not be impressed…” with your parents, “yourself” or your kids <shrugs> anyone know where that comes from? :D)
Want to know whether your average mum runs for President? Check out her kids. Hilary may be more blessed than she knows. And Chelsea may have the nuclear launch codes someday.
So I missed (Wednesday), but at least these ladies holding the guns didn’t
They do both ears at the same time
Queen E wanted her ears pierced, having counted how many girls in school (and grownup staff) have pierced ears, and she wanted no distractions – no Youtube, nuthin’ while they were doing it. Said she wanted the whole experience. Because she hard core.
Before shots:
…and after:
Cried a little, to my relief, so I know she actually does feel pain… and is not gonna ask for a nose ring too soon 😛
But here’s the money shot
Rockstar’s not a hugger; Get Away From Me – that’s more what he’s like, he needs a lot of personal space. But when he saw the tears he came and hung on to her the moment she got off the chair.
And Queen E – usually she doesn’t even let you hold her hand for long. I’m not even allowed to walk her all the way to some classes (usually the ones where she says there are “naughty boys (she) needs to fight with”.) Some days I have to hide behind a pillar, staying a respectable distance away from her while making sure she makes it to class <rolls eyes>
So I love this one of the two of them sharing a moment. ….Right before they go Eww Gerroff Me.
ps: shop doesn’t allow videos, but I guess they’re fine with endorsements – we did this at Isabella’s in TST. They’ve been around really long and we were referred by other mum friends…
(She’s not very happy about it being too sunny and hot)
Next: Paint sticks, dig up whatever cheap plastic rubbish toys you’ve got lying around that can be glued on, sew sticks to whatever old canvas you’ve got lying around (or bung everything together and glue it…)
Cost: Still Nothing.
There’s an additional back story about that old canvas: It’s a large canvas that Rockstar insisted on choosing at our last ArtJam – at like, more than twice the price of everyone else’s including Queen E’s and all his other friends’, despite everyone else telling him in this case bigger wasn’t better. He then struggled to fill it, decided it was all hideous, and we ended up all scraping paint back and forth across it in the general Minecraft colours.
(Much younger Rockstar – note rounder face haha that’s how old that canvas is)
And that was the Miss back in the day
Alternatives: Hello Kitty, Frozen, Lego, Unnamed Ugly Bits Of Plastic…. (If really, really ugly, just paint everything one colour and stick them on an old contrasting coloured picture… Or paint them different colours and stick them on a monochromatic board… Or glue everything the night before and melt crayons on them with a hair dryer after…)
Remember this one? Queen E’s first “painting” when she about a year old (the original Artjam canvas is much older haha)… Rockstar and I sewed leftover neon sticks (yes he learned to sew in Year 2)
Rockstar’s first sewing – cross stitch art work from school in Y2 – this was also a useful way to practice graph/ coordinates reading in math, because the kids have to follow the mapped instructions to sew it (but pick their own colours)
Clean-up: put the kids in swimsuits and bung them in a bathtub with bubbles or Crayola colour bath pellets
And here’s the new old finished product:
Pokemon Forest!
It’s a reminder that there is a moment before (and even after) the paint hits the canvas, and before it dries. Breathe right, and you can change the way the painting looks. There are no mistakes in art, only a lack of imagination.
What old, ugly metaphorical pieces of plastic in your life can you turn into art? Good week ahead, dears…
