Raising Rockstar -

Rockstarism #331 – The Brains And The Looks

Posted on September 1, 2014 by admin

#331

Rockstar: Mum. <seriously huffy> I’m trying to have an argument and she’s just repeating everything I’m saying. And then she just smiles. So annoying.

Me: You realize your sister is two, right, there’s not that much more she can say on her own at the moment?

Rockstar: It just shows she’s the looks in this operation. <pause> I’m the brains.

Me: ?! You don’t think you’re a little good looking or she’s a little smart?

Rockstar: She’s better looking. And I guess I’m smarter. It’s just the way it is.

The Looks And The Brains In A Conspiratorial Moment

(And I just had to put up a few more because Spaghetti.)

Posted in Rockstarisms | 2 Comments

What You Could Be Doing On A Weekend… (Ok, Maybe Some Of It)

Posted on August 30, 2014 by admin

1) Fighting Ebola With Nothing But Hope. They get supplies that will quickly run out, with no idea when the next batch will reach them. Then they drive 3 hours and trek through the woods another 3 hours to deliver some of these supplies. Because Ebola is contagious by the time you can see symptoms, they know their own chances of infection are high. According to a WHO report Daily Beast cites, of 240 infected health care workers in West Africa, at least half are dead.

Health care manager Emmanuel Boyah

Articles like this make you think if you are ever blessed with the means to do something, you “have” to. I don’t just mean donating or circulating something on social media – I mean if you are blessed with an idea, a talent, a gift, you can find a way to use it.

And it can be your own way; think it takes millions and big medical companies to develop vaccines, screening test equipment and what-not?

2) (Caveat: Cancer is not Highly Contagious Deadly Disease) I linked this kid in a previous TGIF, but here he is again – The 15 Year Old Who Developed A Far Cheaper And More Effective Test For Pancreatic Cancer At The Intel Science Fair.

Jake Andraka (center)

He was 13 when he lost a close family friend to pancreatic cancer. He describes googling and wiki-ing and Youtube-ing for answers, thereby discovering that about 85% of pancreatic cancer is detected late – by which time the survival rate is about 2%. Then he went through the list of 8,000 proteins associated with the cancer to find an appropriate marker for a theoretical test. (He found something around the 4,000th protein… And then I think the test in the end was a bit like peeing on a stick…)

It took a kid at a science fair.

They should have more science fairs that reward efforts like this. (Btw his older brother won close to USD 100k from science fairs also…)

3) Mostly unrelated, My Loser Kid Should Get A Trophy. Mainly because I wanted to type how more “Loser Kids” can probably do with Science Fairs 😀 (But I’m not being completely flippant – Science Fair “participation trophies” have a lot better ring to them, and didn’t a lotta very useful discoveries like Penicillin come from people trying to invent something totally different… A participation in a Science Fair could mean the spark of an idea that someone else might even turn into another early cancer detection method.. )

Not… that I don’t respect sports, I grew up with competitive sports despite being a relatively sickly child (and btw NTU Hall 6 “a.k.a. The Sports Hall” where I spent 3 years of university life is just teeming with jocks), and it was only in Rockstar’s time that I understood better the value of non-competitive sports and PE as a very important part of kids’ education, greatly facilitating their ability to do better in a classroom as well… Just that I mean a distinction should be made between sports meant for competitive purposes vs others, because some of the goals can be different otherwise…

If we as a society didn’t reward “winners” (not necessarily winners who are “nice” about it), there wouldn’t be so much money in professional sports, endorsements and college sports scholarships. But what do you tell the less naturally talented child who attends every single practice without fail, who practices all they can hoping to make the team? Sure, they can still play, but when you need to pick a winning team for an important tournament, that last spot is going to be filled possibly by a child who doesn’t need to work quite that hard, but is a natural athlete?

(Any resemblance to any real life scenario going on in schools is PURELY COINCIDENTAL, I know NOTHING please.. That was inspired by a former boss who knew Kieren Perkins the Aussie Olympic gold medalist swimmer personally (yes The Perkins was standing in our dealing room in HK once!) – boss described the training he’d heard about from young, how they picked budding professional swimmers, at least a small part from sheer size, arm span etc etc…)..

So in the interests of finding something for everyone, is just what I’m saying…

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4) 8 Celebrities Who Transformed Loss Into Something Powerful.

Like her.

And him.

Does tragedy somehow make a person more resilient, or does it weed out those who are not? Probably a bit of both… But the true inspiration here is that some of these people who rose up out of tragedy and poverty already had what it took to succeed no matter what. The resilience that sees a person through tragedy bears some resemblance to fierce determination to succeed against all odds, the person who gets over a difficult childhood/ other tragedy bears resemblance to the kind capable of building an empire…

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5) Crazy former Google interview questions. Because you apparently used to have to be Google to work there 😀 (But no, for real, some of the answers illustrate some useful thought processes to develop…)

“How many piano tuners are there in the world?” Or Chicago?

(The test is more about how you approach problems you are given to solve – for e.g., total population => percentage of population playing piano => percentage of piano players who regularly get their pianos tuned => how much business each piano tuner needs to survive…….)

Similar to Fermi estimate technique (and interestingly Fermi paradox refers to the argument that based on Fermi technique we should’ve been contacted by aliens ages ago because given the vastness of the universe, the number of sun-like stars, the probability therefore that there are other planets out there that can support the evolution of life, why have we not met any?)

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6) Kiasu-ism knows no skin color nor gender, but it does go by income… The Tutor To the 1%. This “star tutor” charges USD 1500 for 90 minutes and requires 14 sessions minimum. And he’s booked up for the next 4 years.

Dis is he.

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7) All rise for The Knee Defender! What’ll they think of next…?

pic from Dailymail.co.uk

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8) I had to ask… Real Life Virtual Girlfriends.

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9) Rockstar Skit this weekend is And Now There Are Two.

Miss: Hey Ko-ko. C’mere a sec.

Miss: Let’s go bother the good people at the Indigo Kids store while they’re having a sale

Twins!

Good weekend, dears…

Posted in Rockstar Shots, The TGIF Posts | 2 Comments

Rockstarism #330 – Almost Drowning Makes You Love Swimming 0.1% Less.

Posted on August 28, 2014 by admin

#330

As Rockstar comes back from school one day……

Me: How was swimming today, darling? (Rockstar gives enthusiastic thumbs up) Ah good, enjoyed it did you?

Rockstar: I would say 99.9% of the time. <thoughtful pause> Would’ve been 100% if I didn’t almost drown.

(Before anyone freaks out – “almost drowned” to him is whenever his head goes under and his feet don’t touch the ground right when he wants them to. Why yes, he is a fusspot, even though he enjoys pool playdates. And yes, when the Miss figures that out she is so going to “almost drown” him a gadzillion times a day soon as she’s big enough…)

And THEN it’s a party.

Posted in Rockstarisms | 2 Comments

Little Miss-Speak #20 – I’m Right Here!

Posted on August 26, 2014 by admin

#20

Feeding time in the Rockstar household…

(As I’m walking by…)

Rockstar: Mum. The Miss vomited a-ga-inn….

Miss: Koko. NO TALKING. Miss right here!

Now you don’t….

There. Now you see it 😀

Most toddlers would cry on their first day getting on the school bus. This one started up much later when she wasn’t allowed to eat a “bis-kit” (she just passed on the “bis-kit” before she had to get on the bus!!). The real hollering however came when she abruptly decided she wanted to wear her back pack while strapped in. Then she didn’t let up til she got off <cringe> (Hats off to her pre-school, they are really careful about checking the straps fit the toddlers well, taking as long as needed to adjust them if they don’t…. So obviously there is no space for her to wear her back pack with this particular securely fitted seatbelt. But after awhile she decided that was what she wanted. And a “bis-kit.” <faint>)

Posted in Rockstarisms | 2 Comments

Rockstarism #329 – Appropriate Punishments By Tiger Brothers

Posted on August 25, 2014 by admin

#329

So there was this passage in “How To Behave So Your Children Will, Too!” (which btw greatly amuses Rockstar that I am reading) and I thought the example of a staged conversation between a 7 year old and his parents was a bit funny and so I ran it by Rockstar as well…

Me: Do you know what a time-out is?

Rockstar: Yeah. It’s basically when you have to go stare at a wall quietly for awhile.

Me: Oh. So you know about these types of punishments already.

Rockstar: Yeah. <shrugs> Some of my friends get them like, all. The time.

Me: Do you think it’s an effective punishment?

Rockstar: Y-eah… Kind of. For the Miss. <thoughtfully> But you probably need to give her like, 50 mins. 5-0, not 1-5 minutes.

Me: You do know the same rules apply to you, right?

Rockstar: Well yeah, but I’m just not going to get (a timeout). I’ll just not get in trouble. <shrugs>

Me: Oh, so technically time-outs are effective then!

Rockstar: <non-committally> Guess so.

Me: You don’t seem very convinced. You have a better suggestion?

Rockstar: You could just give me more ixl (online math practice).

Me: You’re volunteering to be given more math as a punishment?! Freak boy.

Rockstar: Like, 2 extra modules or something is ok. Then you get some practice. Staring at a wall you’re not practicing anything.

Me: You are supposed to not want the punishment. Punishment is a deterrent.

Rockstar: I’m not going to get punished anyway.

Me: Awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you? You might make a mistake, what.

Rockstar: I mean, I’m really going to try. I really don’t want to be punished for anything. <mock shudders> <indicates the Miss in feeding chair> But her you probably need to do something about.

Miss: Ko-ko. NO! Stop. Talking! <throws little wooden fish at him>

Rockstar: See?

Scooter girl rebooted this weekend (she got off immediately after this was taken – even at snail’s pace, scooters not allowed :P)

Posted in Rockstarisms | 4 Comments

Be Warned: This Weekend Is Kinda Heavy

Posted on August 23, 2014 by admin

1) Doggy daycare pool pawty.

Floating dog

Gorgeous blondes

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2) Have you heard of the Ice Bucket Challenge? Crazy self-torture for a good cause.

He’s done it.

So has she. (Blurry shot. That's the Beckhams. pic from hellomagazine.com)

And the Beckhams show how it’s done (pic from hellomagazine.com)

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3) 11 year old Autistic Boy Wonder From Penang receives letter from President Obama. Delwin Cheah is a talented artist. His parents say they don’t know who sent a book of the boy’s artwork to the President of the United States. Who wrote him:

“We face many challenges, but with your help, we can build on what we have already achieved and forge a brighter tomorrow.”

(I especially love stories of strengths and achievements in unusual, unlikely places… You guys watched Lucy? I didn’t like a lot of the depictions (all the info of a miraculous 100%-utilized human brain stored in a thumb drive thing?), but the core story of how little the human brain is really utilized I find an inspiration to find new ways of doing things. (I mean, some high achievers in the corporate world have “learning disabilities” like say, dyslexia (cf Gary Cohen of Goldman Sachs).

Scarlet Johansson as Lucy

And we are limited in our view of what abilities/”dis”abilities are of “use” because we don’t use that much of our own brains (whether to look for new ways of doing things or etc) to begin with) 😀

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4) BE WARNED: I couldn’t get through all of this next one. Some of it is really, really disturbing.

(I’d say just stop if you can’t get through it. Though yes my threshold is pretty low in general – I’m the person who hates watching even fictitious more “normal” violent stuff on film. You guys remember back when even a simple kiss would be censored on Malaysian tv? (Not sure re nowadays). I’m the then-19 year old who once called in to Patrick Teoh’s morning radio show to complain that while simple kisses were being censored on tv, a full-blown movie about incest had made it on prime time. (No actual kissing in the movie, any cares.) Anyway there are now even long reads about this series of long reads – how people even came to reporting this problem.)

I came across this awhile ago. I wrote a whole page, and then I scrubbed it completely. I chickened out of posting it yesterday. This the reason for a hurriedly done TGIF/ weekend post that appeared to miss my usual yarn-y commentary. Not that I didn’t write, but that I didn’t post.

Under a new title: This Story Isn’t For Everyone. The original (and one of the stories in the link) was “You’re 16. You’re a pedophile. You don’t want to hurt anyone. What do you do now?”

The initial story was about young people – many of them teenagers themselves – who form non-offending pedophile support groups and tried to get help before they actually did anything. One 16 year old had a mother he couldn’t tell about his “problem”. But when an unsympathetic therapist told her, his mother went and found a real therapist. She has some real courage too.

So it’s here because… Some – many – of these people had never actually done anything. They could walk away without ever risking being reviled for the potential to commit one of the most heinous crimes as society today deems it. They could’ve walked away without ever being judged. (Me, I couldn’t even get up the guts to post this a couple times, for fear of being judged.)

People came out and spoke a lot about this, because the easy anonymity of the internet simply gives rise to cheap shots, bullies…….. and people who had been abused themselves – some of whom then reached out to the ones who were seeking help. From that same anonymity.

My story in linking this is how in the midst of great evil there is also great courage and a genuine wish for better. It isn’t just a story of the existence of terrible evil, it is also one about the existence of incredible strength. Great evil doesn’t disappear just because you don’t write about it and pretend it’s not there. But in pretending some evil doesn’t exist, do we also forfeit seeing the good as a result, do we miss a chance to be renewed by the incredible resilience of the human spirit that we get to see in others.

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5) Here’s a little more good… 99 Year Old Sews A Dress A Day For Children In Need.

She’s up to 840 and aims to make 1,000 by her 100th birthday

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6) Here’s another… Hair Stylist Gives Haircuts To Homeless On His One Day Off.

Every little bit helps…

Kind of All Hands On Deck To Help In Any Way feel-good story.

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7) … I’ll post my (human) kids another time. This one JD shall end with some old(ish) pics the 5 Star Dog Hotel she boards at whatsapps us when we’re on vaccie. (Yes, they totally have dog pools and etc – it’s actually a fairly common staple of the dog boarding houses out in New Territories (and most of the big, good boarding houses will be all the way out there because there’s more land… They are happy to drive over to this side of the island to pick your dog up for a fee…))

Posted in The TGIF Posts | 2 Comments

Rockstarism #328 – Octopus Logic

Posted on August 22, 2014 by admin

#328

Rockstar’s been going on for a couple days about some animal facts he read about in school during some extra free reading time, I think it was…

(Looking at squid tentacles between his chopsticks…)

Rockstar: Mum. Did you know the smaller an octopus is, the more deadly it is?

Me: Erm, really? Where did you get that, are you sure?

Rockstar: Google it.

Me: (Wanting to make sure he was on the child-safe search engine he was taught to use last term) Did you google it?

Rockstar: No, I read it in this book in school. It’s why the blue-ringed octopus is tiny.

Me: (Not sure I like the reasoning) Wait, lemme ask you this: Is an octopus deadly because it’s small, or is it small because it’s deadly? Or are the two completely unrelated and just a coincidence?

Rockstar: <brief pause> Unrelated. It’s just a coincidence.

Me: Fine, so you think they just happen to be both small and deadly.

Rockstar: Yeah. But when you see a small octopus, what you really need to think about is whether it’s a tiny adult octopus or the baby of a big octopus.

Me: <mildly impressed> Wow.

Rockstar: The problem is, I’m not sure if there’s really a way to tell if it’s an adult or a baby.

Me: Well…. Does the Miss look like an adult octopus or a baby octopus?

Rockstar: <snorts> Ok, so the babies are probably really, really cute. Only problem is, what are we going to do with them when they grow up?

Me: Excuse me?

Rockstar: It’s like, these babies look soooo cute. And then they grow up. And then what are people going to do with them?

Me: Are you talking about your sister or an octopus?

Rockstar: Octopuses are easier.

Posted in Rockstarisms | 2 Comments

Rockstarism #327 – Selective Memory

Posted on August 20, 2014 by admin

#327

Rockstar: Mum. I had the best first day ever!

Me: That’s nice darling, any new friends, anyone I know?

Rockstar: <like he’s making an important announcement> The people I was with today are (boy’s name), (boy’s name), (boy’s name), (boy’s name)…. Oh, and there’s a Girl sitting next to me.

Me: Oh really, what’s her name?

Rockstar: I don’t know Mum, it’s a girl.

—————————————–

Rockstar: Mum! I was sitting next to (boy’s name) today!

Me: That’s nice, darling, and who’s on the other side of you?

Rockstar: Erm… Erm…

Me: Lemme guess. It’s A Girl.

Rockstar: <muttering to himself> Must’ve been a girl, since I don’t remember.

Someone else he remembered.

Posted in Rockstarisms | 2 Comments

And How Was Your Back To School Weekend?

Posted on August 19, 2014 by admin

Back to school weekend can be both very busy and…. anti-climactic. Depending. Meaning, as I have at least 2 mum friends who are currently pregnant and at least 1 who is not quite out of confinement, so I’m gonna go with “depending” 😀

Oh, wait – you should probably take a cue from the insane number of Back To School Sales they wave in your face at department stores during this time. BTS is not just a weekend in HK btw, where there are so many different school systems and timings. Maybe that’s better, because not everyone goes back to school at the same time. On the other hand, when not everyone goes back to school at the same time, all the department stores have a real field day with the whole BTS season in terms of marketing stuff. BTS is a season.

So, caught up by BTS season, we were on excursion to Citygate Outlets in Tung Chung for school shoes among others, when Cantonese noodles happened. Yums.

“How long is YOUR noodle?”

Sccrumptious. And with some milk soup and rice thing too…

Oh look Evita Peroni outlet!

They had elephants here too, and so we browsed…

The Rockstars pick out an elephant each...

And the Rockstars picked out a little elephant each…

Rockstar picked this one which he thought looked more masculine (yes, really. And then he called it Snowy.)

And then the Miss broke hers. Not once, but twice. As in, first she threw it while we were shopping and the wing broke off. Then she threw the entire tin down the escalator, which broke the leg off, and so we lost the wing we were planning to superglue back. Somewhere in an escalator belt in Large Outlet Mall In Tung Chung is the Miss’ elephant wing. It’s amazing what this blog sees me typing.

This the Miss’ elephant.

Was soooo heartsick when I first saw her break it 🙁 then went for the parenting opportunity (may as well right, she just broke her elephant…) especially as she’s been in this whole phase of feeling nuthin’ when she breaks stuff – my iPhone screen has been cracked and shattered and chipped countless times (thank God for insurance)… So we kept reminding her that this is what has happened to her elephant because she threw it…

Then the next day we were again mall crawling and lo and behold, yet another Elephant Parade booth (so now we’ve been to all 3 in Hong Kong!) and I meet my former CJ Hostel-mate to boot (Hi Sharon!), with her two daughters in tow. I tell her the story of the Miss’ elephant, and her reaction is “WHY does she get a new elephant when she broke her own by deliberately throwing it?! Oh, how old is she?” (The Miss is…. not quite as short as Rockstar, and people have been mistaking her for a bit older than she is… Until say, she walks right up to their kids and they realize she isn’t quite as big as they thought…)

Anyway we felt mildly obliged cos Rockstar got a lotta BTS gear (stationery, shoes) and in the end the Miss didn’t want anything else except another little winged elephant. And she furnished a solemn nod when we told her the lesson was to not throw any more elephants. <feel so proud>

Then she threw her (rubber band) bracelet and we lost that. And when I freaked she simply looked at me nonplussed and said……………………………..

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“Not. Elephant.”

And then we went and got the dog to get on a boat and feed fish and a few turtles.

Dis The Mens in boat. And JD.

Dis All The Girls. I especially like JD’s happy smile, she looks way younger than her 12 years.

And Random Stick-Up-Butt Guy With Wife And Daughter In Next Boat saw us picking up one of the turtles that came to feed* and had to come up to our boat and say, “You cannot take those. The HK government puts them here.”

And then Kings replied, “We’re not taking them,” and the guy still had to say, “You can still hurt them if you play with them.”

To which I really wanted to say………

NOT. ELEPHANT. 😀

The ends.

*ps: No turtles were harmed in any way. Someone might shoot me an email and say we are upsetting turtles, to which I would like to clarify the potentially upset turtles were still tearing at bread from our fingers while we were holding them. Not say, hiding in their shells. Yes we communicated to the kids that you have to be really careful not to hurt the animals or get bitten and they are not to do this on their own. Last time we did it one of the feeding turtles simultaneously peed on us so Rockstar is especially wary anyways. The Miss… we are not letting out of our sight 😀

At least she doesn’t throw elephants now?

Posted in Rockstar Shopping, Rockstar Thoughts | 2 Comments

Xena And Attack Dog On Another Boat (This One Smaller :)

Posted on August 18, 2014 by admin

Can’t you see how fierce they are?

This weekend Xena Warrior Princess enjoyed a boat ride with Fierce Attack Dog by her side…

…And shared war stories…

And a private joke or two.

Back to school week! The Big One! I’ll be able to write more soon, fingers crossed…

Posted in Rockstar Shots, School For Rockstar | 2 Comments

Raising Rockstar

Rockstarism #331 – The Brains And The Looks

What You Could Be Doing On A Weekend… (Ok, Maybe Some Of It)

Rockstarism #330 – Almost Drowning Makes You Love Swimming 0.1% Less.

Little Miss-Speak #20 – I’m Right Here!

Rockstarism #329 – Appropriate Punishments By Tiger Brothers

Be Warned: This Weekend Is Kinda Heavy

Rockstarism #328 – Octopus Logic

Rockstarism #327 – Selective Memory

And How Was Your Back To School Weekend?

Xena And Attack Dog On Another Boat (This One Smaller :)

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