“Daddy Got Baptized”

Posted on December 3, 2012 by admin

This is just to put up the few pics we have, and then I’ll blog more in the next post… In case you’re wondering, Rockstar actually does have some idea about Baptism, I used to film the other baptisms on my cellphone and his iPod, for him to “absorb” a little… Obviously til it was his own dad he was just blah about it…

Instead, right now he wished the vending machine (see below) had popcorn 😀

(But for real, this is us all waiting to watch Kings take the major step in his spiritual life. I opted to watch from the second floor near where they have a baby room, instead of the first floor, for fear of disrupting other church goers and friends and family of the others getting baptized.)

This was Rockstar 10 minutes before settling:

  

  

  

(Or, take my word for it, that blur is Rockstar finding entertainment in launching himself onto the beanbags in the empty baby room adjacent, while we wait for the service to begin…)

And 20 minutes before, this was Rockstar raiding the vending machine to get all the snacks he needs to get him through (he also scarfed a large cheese-filled-crust pizza slice right after – this week his eating’s been significantly even more than usual and I’ve wondered if he’s learning something heavy at school because when I needed to think at work my eating would go up a lot too):

(Paisay our pastor sees this – macam we come to church for the snacks! But seriously,  IslandECC has some of the best Sunday School and Vacation Bible Study; Rockstar loves it, with all the art and craft etc. Just right now Ms Rockstar has that problem with Cars. When she is like, 20 Rockstar and I plan to have her hypnotized so they can bring her back to this time and ask what her freaking problem was with Cars.)

And this is Kings and Rockstar 30 minutes before:

Me, in my best Oh Listen, This Is Interesting Voice: Baptism is –

Rockstar: I know, Mum. I’ve seen it, remember?

Me: I didn’t think you remembered.

Rockstar: I remembered. 

Me: So… what d’you think?

Rockstar: I… really don’t know. Yet.

(So I asked him later if he’s formed an opinion)

Rockstar: Yeah yeah. It’s… cool, to go in the water like that. But really dangerous. He might hit his head on the steps.

Me: Umm.. Does it help you believe in Jesus, seeing Daddy take that step in being a Christian?

Rockstar: I guess so <shrugs>.  

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And so he managed to film it on his iPod:

(Actually that was the countdown before the worship songs and then Kings was Lucky Number 7 to be baptized.)

But then I could barely film it because Ms Rockstar woke up right on time:

(For the occasion, she’s wearing a navy Jacadi cardigan and grey-with-moss-green-velvety-polka-dots Zara wool dress.)

And then she did this:

“Yay, Daddy got dunked baptized! So happy for him! I love water too!” (She really, really does)

Ps: Am writing another post…. Those don’t want to read my Christian testimonial stuff come back after lah…

Pps: We got back late enough that baths and bedtimes were late though… So Ms Rockstar was a handful last night… Payback for the car ride.

“Car!! In……. CAR!! Yet Again!! What. Is. WRONG. With You People???” 

Ppps: It was also Ms Rockstar’s 6mth-birthday yesterday…

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And The Population Increases By One More Malaysian

Posted on December 2, 2012 by admin

Brought Ms Rockstar to the Malaysian Embassy in the Malaysia Building in Wan Chai… We were steeling ourselves for a cry-fest because she’s never been, hates cars (still) and gets over-tired easily, but as it was quite empty we managed to get in and out and then peel off her outer layer of clothing and quickly settle her in her beloved Room with only a bit of drama…

We are mildly amused, until we have to have our thumbprints taken…

 

So young, to have to be giving out autographs <indulgent, obsessive parent sigh>

So tiny, the thumbprints…

– See? Not so bad. This uncle was very nice, he meticulously cleaned his own fingers before touching the baby (Loves!) and then reminded me several times to clean the ink off carefully in case she put her hand in her mouth.

Then out into the street again, and home for a nap. She fussed, but we made it back in time. Sorry, no time to take pics of the area, with Malaysian restaurants like Malay Mama and all, just once, we’d like her not to carry on at all when we’re out, is our goal…

And… Kings is getting baptized today!! Lotsa stuff going on, we’ll be back in a bit…

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Friday “Se-tyle”

Posted on November 30, 2012 by admin

1) You have to have lived under a rock (that has no wifi reception) if you haven’t come across “Gangnam Se-tyle”, Most Watched Video in the history of Youtube and reason anti-Beibers everywhere have been spending even more time on the site. Oct 24th, 531 mio views. At press time, 851 mio views. The internet is here to stay, baby (and if you watch only one, make it Baby Gangnam embedded further below).

a) Original Gangnam Style:

I only thought to search out Gangnam Style tributes when a mum of a Year 4 at one of the private schools told me about Gangnam Envy because the dwarves in her son’s recent school play got to do Gangnam Style.

b) US Naval Academy one:

http://youtu.be/xhHufV9g4k4

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c) And….. BABY GANGNAM STYLE!!! Featuring super hot LA mums and a couple game dads. Now that’s a baby class:

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After all that, it’s like I have nothing else that can top it. No wait, I do. That’s –

d) “Umma Gangnam”: This guy’s mum is sooooo cool with the moves and I hope someday Rockstar and I can be this cool. When we both grow up, I mean 😀

Rrrrrespect:

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There’s a whole list at Top 10 Gangnam Parodies. It was interesting quite a few parodies (like say the US Naval one) use the original Korean version (not dubbed into English). The world is getting smaller. Though Eton Gangnam is a rewrite in English – and if you go search it out can you please tell me whether that really is one of the professors playing the part of Red Car Guy in the video??.

NOW it’s hard to follow that. Let’s try anyway.

2) Dear Photograph – a match of old photos to the same place today. Like so:

“Dear Photograph, I’m so proud my boys childhood dreams were made of bravery, honor and valor. Fifteen years later, dreams really do come true. Nancy”

But I really liked this one:

” Dear Photograph,
My mother was 22 and studying at George Washington University in 1972 when she posed for the camera outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC. Who would’ve known that forty years later, when I was 22, I would be a White House intern working in that very same building?………It’s an odd feeling to be in a photograph with your mother when you’re both the same age.
Arthur”

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3) Following from my mentioning an ex big boss in the dealing room who prayed openly in thanks for favorable markets, 8 CEOs who talk to God. Those are some big companies.

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And I usually end this with another nice pic, so Ms Rockstar’s pitching in this Fri:

Hello Dere

That’s her and her new first love – Mr Lobster the bath toy. I’m gonna run out of Christmas pressie ideas soon if I don’t exercise a little self control…..!

Have a good one. Sliming Mr Lobster or whatever.

 

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To Sleep, Perchance, To Dream Job

Posted on November 29, 2012 by admin

Several weeks after Ms Rockstar and I came home from the hospital and still on confinement, I received an email inquiry. A conference call or two followed, couple drafts, a ghosted article in the Singapore Business Times. I can’t remember how many more correspondences, speeches, emails (all banking/ investment-related, couple different institutions) later, at some point when the idea of a retainership was floated was when I realized with a flutter of excitement that I was working.

Praise God! Something I can yet do around expressing milk (still going, still almost 4 hours a day – more, during that last cold when I couldn’t get the milk out – but when you don’t give yourself the option of stopping, you can actually even look forward to the “quiet time” when, though you can’t type very well, your mind can certainly travel anywhere you want it to.)

I could be there practically full-time for my children, working around school or naps. And yet I could taste the thing I missed most about my former life again – the achievement “high” of “nailing it”. Arguments for or against new investment asset classes, bookings, mark to markets, client or RM correspondence. To someone who is parched (though not necessarily knowing it at the time), a few drops are the difference between life and death of a former life. It was like a part of me awoke from a deep sleep (Alive! A-LIIIIIIIVVE!), and in challenging that part of my brain again, takes Current Me The Involved Parent to ever new places. Places the kids can come with. 

Next to me in her cot Ms Rockstar stirs, and I get off my little Ikea sofa bed to peer in. Good-naturedly, she meets my inquiring gaze.

S’up, Mummee. <giant pooping sound that heralds end of sleep for the night>

You know I love you and all babe, but sometimes Mummee lies awake in the dark after Operation Major Diaper Change waiting for you to gabble yourself back to sleep so she can hope for a few more hours as well, and she wonders – What else? So this works out just great – while you’re gabbling at full volume, Mummee shall draft emails in the dark on her iPhone. We’ll have a slumber party. Just like the real ones, where sleep is the last thing on our minds. I must be dreaming. I’m so blessed.

Oh, and don’t…. pull the little animals off your mobile like that, the whole thing might come crashing down even if we did duct tape it to the side of your crib.

Original Rockstar.…. even easier. Always a tacit understanding between us – “I’m busy, Mum,” With Important Things At School, So In Between Making Sure You Read My School Emails And Remembering To Volunteer (During Which I Shall Barely Glance At You Beyond “Hi-Bye” But God Forbid You Should Miss A Slot), You Need Your Own Life. See, I’ve Got Mine. Or Well, “The baby could keep you busy, Mum.” <Buck Pass>. 

Sigh. My son, the antithesis to the Mama’s Boy. Any time other mums wistfully go Wah Your Son So Smart Ah I retell the You-Need-Your-Own-Life-Or-Else-Go-Busy-Yourself-With-The-Baby Everything’s A Package Of Goods And Bads story and we can all rejoice in our own little packages 🙂

Who knew a dream job would look like this? Boy do priorities change with the kids. Yet the biggest change was in me – I never thought I could be happy “just” being an SAHM. I was. I never thought I could have any tiny bit of my former life, not with the amount of time and effort I was determined to put in towards raising of the kids. What an irony, that when I stopped looking years later was when a little job found me. And I feel my energy levels start to soar.

Like a shark in my tank. (I mean that old email of the analogy drawn to packing fish destined to be sushi. Apparently you have to find some way to not just simply keep the fish alive, you have to also keep them a little active – because half dead and sluggish comes across in taste. Then someone caught on to putting a shark in the tank. Even though they lost a few, the fish having to swim around a bit produced superior-tasting sushi, commanding a price that more than offset the few fish a shark might consume.

And I found that after all I liked “having” to recover from that cold/ bad night/ whatever because of a very tight deadline (I have to turn out the writing usually within a day or two). I like the pressure. I like how venturing into wildly divergent writings/ activities inspires my thinking. Most of all, I like the kind of parent the shark makes me.

Random glimpse of The Rockstars

Ps: “To sleep, perchance, to dream” – Hamlet, contemplating suicide and eternal peace in “sleep,” yet fearing not being able to wake up, should he find himself in a nightmare. The irony of the contrast with what the original quote meant, and my title – a metaphor for my never having thought I would arrive at the relative happiness and contentment of my current situation. I know I’m writing weird, blame Nespresso’s Holiday Hazelnut capsules – seriously trippy…

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Old, Meet New.

Posted on November 27, 2012 by admin

Hope this doesn’t bother anyone, I mean no disrespect – HSBC was the last place I worked on the “sell side” in Singapore (and I left on really good terms then), before coming to HK and making the career switch to the “buy side”…

Spot The Little Red-And-White Triangles

Scurrying around getting the baby things ready for an impromptu lunch outdoors with the younger Rockstar, I pause at the door and realize it’s a little sunny and I don’t have another shade (Hate umbrellas. They are annoying, fiddly things that poke you all the time that you have to open).

Winding the random scarf I’ve grabbed around Ms Rockstar’s Pebble (so I can pull it down when we hit the sun and hopefully the patterns will distract her from protesting), I notice which scarf I’m holding. And the memories come and I get all nostalgic and weird (like, WHO gets nostalgic about banks?)

One of our bosses used to strictly require we wear the bank scarf (the guys had official bank ties) to bank functions, wonder if they still do that… One of my seniors told me high-end versions of the same are made for senior management, don’t know if that’s true…

That scarf. My first “foreign bank” job. My first time standing in the middle of the room early in the morning, before most markets were open, as speakers from each team took a turn briefing on flows, economic news that might affect their trading, significant trades. My first time speaking. My first time quoting forex (boy it gets your speed up) – 7 seconds to adjust for swap points. My first time learning to price the options. My first time flying to HK for training on interest rate derivatives – almost a decade later my then mentor happens to live in the same development as we do today – he retired early, bless him.

The first time I watched a (then) head of the dealing room give thanks to the Lord at an annual dinner, for a fruitful trading year. I don’t remember much about the swanky venue anymore, but I remember the powerful image of the most senior guy in the dealing room, humbly turning every blessing into praise. Openly leading the Christians among us in prayer, politely and respectfully asking the non-Christians to bear with us a moment. You don’t have to pretend, to gain approval. Treat everyone with respect.

Come official company dinner times said big boss would go round the room asking if anyone needed a lift to the venue. Seniors often admitted to not having finished their duties yet, catching up later. Though if they finished, they did ride with him. Starry-eyed, I was too shy to go, even when some of the part-time admin staff, one of whom I remember is devout Muslim, went.

Yet the image stayed with me. One senior on my team left not too long after, to pursue full-time ministry; several others remain heavily involved in their churches. After we came to HK, I saw this boss again, across the room in a nice restaurant. At the glimmer of recognition, I went over and wished him well, before scurrying back to my own table. He was polite and gracious as always. Pretty sure he had no freaking idea who I was, other than that I was obviously one of the gadzillion people who at some point or other worked for him. The market is small, and it’s been 8, 9 years – I have never once heard anything bad said about him. You can walk the talk, is what I learned. It can be done.

So no, I mean no disrespect, it was only the once, I actually wanted to frame this scarf. Thanks for all the memories, and the lessons. Next time for the baby shade, I’ll use Hermes. 😀

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A Rockstar In A Glasshouse (a.k.a. Crown Wine Cellars)

Posted on November 25, 2012 by admin

This was our Saturday night… Kings wanted Rockstar to join him for the night event, since usually The Mens’ weekend bondings are sacred… Since this was a talk on Wine Investments (if they let me I’ll write more later on), I tried explaining the concept of investing to Rockstar in the cab:

Me: Investing is trying to grow your money. The trick is to try and buy something for HKD 10 that you think someone might buy from you someday for HKD 20. Then you’ve made an extra…. how much?

Rockstar: <dutifully, staring gravely out window> 10 dollars. 

Me: <thinking Wah So Easy Ah> Great! So… What is investing?

Rockstar: <still staring out window> Asking someone to give you 20 dollars for something.

Sigh. So close.

Dis is de glass house. Dis is awesome place to bring Date You Want To Impress.

Rockstar’s wearing (note photo-bombing border collie while I was trying to decide what to put him in)……..

a) Navy corduroy cargos, white layering tee and a seersucker blazer 

But with 18 degrees C and strong wind (where we live can be super windy) and a little rain, I added:

b) Ralph Lauren water resistant hoodie jacket over tee and under blazer.. I would’ve left the RL jacket unzipped (cooler, right??) but Rockstar insisted on zipping it. (No he wasn’t cold. It was Nerd genes!)

(Don’t mistake the facial expression, he’s thrilled to be going out to Visit Daddy At Work (willingly napped before the late night), and clutching a book to keep him busy there while people drone on about wine (which he has already decided is “disgusting”) – he just looks like that because he’s thinking about what to do/say tonight… Obviously I told him best behavior or no more night excursions… :P)

And so here we are:

Outer dining area

This actually reminds me of where Kings and I got married in Singapore, Flutes At Fort Canning… Flutes is also in a large bungalow on a hill…..

And this reminds me how Rockstar likes to ruin my shots

Which gave us an idea…

Look, wine glasses that float into your mouth! (He didn’t stay still long enough though)

Then on to an inner dining room near the wine cellar, where Platinum Wines was having a talk about wine investing (plus 5 course and wine pairings)…

Rockstar thought the giant bottle “people write on” was cool…

Btw, contrary to popular belief, you don’t drink investment wine – or even open the wooden case it came in. You keep like, a doz (think physical asset) in a wooden crate with original seal AND you’re not allowed to store it at home, no matter how good your wine fridge is. You have to be able to account for all those years your original wine crate has lived – and be able to show the paperwork proving it has never really lived. (i.e. that it was always in whatever Certified Acceptable Wine Storage and had no outside clubbing life or whatever).

And did you know HK is the biggest wine investment hub in the world? I didn’t.

“Red or green straw” Rockstar gets an apple juice from the bar…
And this is him entertaining himself when no one was talking to him…

That was right before some of the grownups noticed him reading National Geographic and he then proceeded to regale some of them with…………… tales of his online Math Homework from school (Nerd genes! Nerd genes! Nerd genes! – That was for Kings :D)

But in my son’s defense he had online math work on the brain because he’d recently had a school assembly about it and so apparently “Fractions” are “cool.” I am impressed he’s that enthusiastic about the math homework, how did they get him to think fractions are cool, did they use hypnosis? (This is a JOKE ok!! But wouldn’t it be funny if I get an email asking if I know which hypnotist Rockstar’s school is using?)

Seriously though, it hadn’t really occurred to me Rockstar would get asked that many times where he goes to school. #schoolpride

Rockstar perusing menu for items he eats (that would be the seared Tuna steak after he scraped off all the avocado – he didn’t like the rare beef or lamb cutlet so he had most of my Tuna as well, and woke up ravenous next morning; when he wants, he can really eat..)

NO Rockstar cannot read the French names of the wines on that menu. And btw French wines are pretty much the only ones meant for investment – something about the region producing a wine that can last 75-100 years.

There was also a slide on exceptional vintage years. Interesting that some parents apparently buy a case if it’s their child’s birth year, as a gift for their child later on. (I bought the Standard Chartered HKD 150 note with Rockstar’s birthdate as serial number btw… Intend to give it to him on his 21st birthday or something. I didn’t say 16 cos I’m pretty sure what he wants then are the keys to the family car. He has agreed to drive us around when he’s old enough to get a license – for now we’ll enjoy him making our coffee 😀 Thanks, Nespresso machine!)

Oh, and one of my girlfriends’ sons…. has a mountain bequeathed to him by his grandfather in Korea. She says it’s also “quite normal” to give houses to kids when they marry, “because how can you expect them to have that much themselves yet, they normally get married what, before 30?” I don’t know, I’m still back at the mountain bit...!

And then it was time for Rockstar to examine the wine cellar.

And so that was our Saturday night…

Which was quite a contrast to our Sunday:

Rockstar's playing with his Lego up there, the baby has just fallen asleep - not two minutes before, she was screaming something awful

Ms Rockstar was pretty tough today… Normally, she’s not, when she gets to be in her room. But thanks to her I’m knackered and still a little sick…

Posted in aileensml, Traveling With Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Almost Not Friday Post

Posted on November 23, 2012 by admin

1) This has to be my first link – but I think the original title is a little misleading. 8 heartbreaking stories of animal prosthetics. “Beauty” the eagle would have been euthanized eventually if she couldn’t feed herself after her beak was shot off.

This was the before pic:

Is she awake in the pic at right?!

The prosthetic saves her from being put down. So at first I was wondering why the title of Bored Panda’s post was “heartbreaking” – except I guess they mean how some of the animals got to be that way in the first place.

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Next up…

Pic from wikipedia.com

No, I do not know how to better follow a picture of an eagle with prosthetic beak with that of a cupcake.

2) Arbitraging Hostess Junk Food. People were buying up those horrendously unhealthy cream-filled cake snacks after Hostess announced liquidation. (Two days later it seems someone will buy the brand and keep that All American Junk Food available.)

Dis is like Fine Wine Investment. You are not supposed to consume the stuff. Just hoard it as a Dust Collector That Potentially Makes Inexplicable Profit. Kind of like what they do with the Fine Wine (btw HK is a major asian hub for Fine Wine Investments and Mainlanders like to buy it (and other high-end bottles of stuff, the pricier the better) as gifts at CNY) except with junk food.

I have never, ever eaten a Twinkie or Hostess Cupcake or Fruit Pie – but I used to read the comic books that had the ads and strangely I really love the ads. So anyway I’m going through the slideshow of snacks and thinking OMG people eat these things as snacks fairly often?? Cream! CREAM! CREAAMMM!!!

And can anyone explain to me why some Tweets think it heralds the zombie apocalypse?

Oh wait, not such a good trade if fans succeed in petitioning President Obama in the nationalization of Twinkies. They might not need to though… Why hoard the Twinkie if you can buy the company/brand that makes the Twinkie. (Now, there’s a trade for you :D)

3) Aren’t you glad that USD 23,000 utilities bill was a mistake? Outrageous bills. (#3 in the slideshow was disgusting, though. After her son is killed by a drunk driver, the mum is billed towing and stowing charges for perpetrator’s car – and USD 50 to clean her son’s blood off the road. The only time I’ll say it on the blog – WTF???)

4) Fake Queen. Fake Darth Vader. You get the idea – 10 funniest fake Twitter personas (who are nevertheless really funny).

I like Sarcastic Rover: “If you see anything weird in my pics, just assume it’s an alien, okay? Even though the odds of it being a rock are literally 100%”

Ps: Don’t tell Rockstar. a) He loves Mars Curiosity Rover (especially Mohawk NASA Guy), and b) He gets really offended by sarcasm.

5) 9 Thanksgiving Nutrition Myths. (But really why it’s here is because of the one that says one pig-out doesn’t hurt. Way to break a person’s heart there.)

Still, Yum.

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Not a myth: Presidents of the United States pardon a turkey on Thanksgiving. Then it gets to go to Disneyland. What, think I’m kidding?

This one's named Courage.

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6) 25 of the healthiest herbs. Like when you say “I graduated from a top 5 university in Singapore” and there are only 5 universities in Singapore. I mean I can’t even name 25 herbs, can you?

7) 5 life lessons from working at Mc Donald’s.

pic from logolovedesign.com

No, Never Eat Fast-Food is not one. I like “No task is beneath you.” (But I would really hate to clean a toilet. Speaking of which.)

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Dis looks familiar.

8) Toilet paper art.

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And with that –

Have a good weekend, yay!

Dis is a prosthetic tail.

 

**Update:  Saturday morning with all that news about Black Friday shopping, I had to put this one up:

Black Friday Brutality (through the years) – there’s one where two women slug it out in Toys R Us and then their husbands draw guns and chase each other around the store, eventually leading to their deaths. 

 

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More Merry Madness In Pics

Posted on November 22, 2012 by admin

Okays, as promised, more pics:

Dis is a chartreuse bear

What? It’s a chartreuse bear what. In the words of Rockstar, Fine. This is a picture of the chartreuse-and-purple charity bear Lane Crawford is selling this year. All proceeds go to the children’s Cancer Research. It is HKD 250. I shall hang it on our Future Tree via one of Ms Rockstar’s toy straps or a stray ribbon, whichever I have more of. Cans?

Next up…

Dis represents <melodramatic pause> my childhood

Chim Siah? As a little girl, whenever they had Santa’s wishing trees where you write on a paper ornament what you want for Christmas and hang it on one of the trees in the shopping center, and if Santa picks your ornament you get your wish, I used to write “A Crystal Ball.” Santa never fulfilled my wish. I think even if he did pick it, he never realized all I really wanted was that chintzy ’80s disco ball (see above), not “To See The Future”. Sigh, in your face, Shopping Center Santa From My Childhood.

Oh, and I’m telling Rockstar you are not really real, but the whole season of good cheer and giving, part of which you represent, is. No actually he kind of already knew that, because last year he was already suspicious how you could be everywhere, including work for Cartier, all at the same time. He was suspicious because he didn’t think you knew about teleportation – after all, you use a reindeer sleigh. It is not very hi-tech.

Sometimes Rockstar still likes to think of you as “real.” It’s still a nice concept, and so we indulge. But at some point it will crystalize into either Come Clean or Have Discussion About Cloning, because he has recently discovered a similar concept in Star Wars (The Clone Wars). I…… may have also mentioned that last I checked, “fact” was they had only successfully cloned sheep. (And that cloning people – Santas or drones – was “fiction”.) But the Rockstar will be fine with You As A Symbol (not say, real). You should be too. We mean no disrespect. Ditto Future Tooth Fairy. I’m not even sure what the deal is with that, I shall have to google it eventually.

Dis is a pic of more rather pricey ornaments

These are from Indigo Kids. At HKD 59 each (hearts) and HKD 179 for the replaceable-battery Santa ornament with blinking red nose (thought it would captivate Ms Rockstar), I hope these are my biggest splurge ornaments (I don’t consider the Lane Crawford bear a splurge obviously as it is A. Donation. It is also in chartreuse, one of my favorite colors.) Because every year I buy nice ones and then Kings goes on manic cleaning sprees and…… I hope some homeless guy gets to experience the Season Of Good Cheer a little more. Please buy more Lane Crawford bears. But seriously, there was Jonathan Adler in there, I really hope we find them someday <mourn>. (Kings. That was for you.)

Dese are some of the HKD 100 for 5 ornaments I was talking about in the previous post

Nice right, for HKD 20 a pop? The other two ornaments were crystal balls (see above). Yes, I bought two. Yes, Shopping Center Santa that was for you. As you can see, I now have issues. 

And JD will have tennis balls. Specifically, Jonathan Adler tennis balls we shall display to death under Future Tree before letting her have. Because Tis The Season.

From Shopbop.com, dese are tennis balls. Wish I could swing JD i/o JA but she probably won't notice the misspell

(At USD 9 they’re not a lot more expensive than regular ones if you get free shipping after buying USD 100 worth of stuff and they’re pretty)

If Ms Rockstar were older, I’d have got her the Kate Moss paper cutout dolls, also from Shopbop.com. My mum used to draw mine. She’s quite good at art – and I still remember what they look like.

Move over, Barbie

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Oh hang on lemme put in the pics of Elements’ decorations since I was just there:

Apparently, Dis Is A Christmas Tree

Ok, Maybe Dis Is De Tree. And So Dese Must Be Christmas Animals

And Dis.... Appears to be a knitted living room

And a knitted fireplace - but I love what the painting says:

“Happiness Is An Inside Job.”

Which is a great way to lead into the money shot.

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Finally….. <Drrrrrrumroll…..>

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Dis Is Art.

Ms Rockstar Eating A Christmas Tree. With Mustela lotion on her eyebrow. Did I mention this is art?

Headlines: Baby Attacks Tree

Ms Rockstar: <in voice like Godzilla> Grarrr.

Christmas Tree: AAAHH! NOOOOO! AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

Ps: No Christmas Trees Were Harmed In The Making Of This Blog Post.

Pps: No I haven’t got a tree yet. Tried Elements. Nuthin. Very pretty other potted plants, but nothing that looks remotely like it could pull off masquerading as That Kind Of Tree From States Which Gets Chopped Down.

(Thanks for the links, will look in a bit, fighting off a bit of a cold now, and Rockstar is off school tomorrow so I shall be juggling two kids around with naps and playdates…)

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Let The Merry Madness Begin!

Posted on November 20, 2012 by admin

Yesterday I went to Great in Pacific Place looking for a tree and they weren’t here yet, and then the tree lady got all uppity about how people book their trees before they arrive (snobby, much?) and they’re gonna be all gone if I don’t book mine like, now.

Well excuse me for not deciding on a real tree yet – I absolutely love the smell of the real trees, but get guiltier and guiltier every year (rarely buy flower bouquets for the same reason, only flowers in pots) and was thinking maybe, maybe this is the year I shall not require “good cheer” via real pine smell and shall instead go for That Plastic Tree Which Kings Will Insist On Throwing Out The Moment Christmas Is Over, Thereby Possibly Being Even Worse For The Environment If It Is Some Made In China Non-Biodegradeable Thing Yes It’s Possible I Had Too Much Caffeine Again. Oh, but the HKD 100 for 5 decorations said tree lady in Great pointed out were brilliant and much better than what Park n Shop has. You should go get some. I might go back for more, Ms Rockstar hasn’t seen acorns painted in gold yet. 

But over the weekend Kings was holed up at home preparing for a host of Asia Bankers’ Club events (think glass house wine tasting/ private jet sale financing/ helicopter riding/ paintings auction/ electric car demo – type stuff) and so I decided to entertain Rockstar with chicken soup.

This is a picture of Rockstar holding the gingerbread-village-in-a-box we got from Park n Shop along with the chicken soup ingredients. It is upside down. Neither of us was inclined to care by this stage, me lugging a heavy bag of groceries (for Chicken Noodle Chicken Soup) and Rockstar complaining about walking all the way there and walking all the way back while we were both tripping over the dog.

That Dog. You would’ve thought after winning HK Agility International Competition (team obstacle event at advanced level) she would be able to walk straight, but nooooo. We trip over That Dog all the time. Even more if she is on a leash. Someone told me Border Collies don’t run straight from being bred to run in circles round sheep, but That Dog has an additional Walk Right Into Your Legs Gene.

(Come to think of it fortunately at the Bishan Dog Run Of Olde when they checked that she is not A Vicious Animal I Allow Near Children (seriously – they seriously did things like wave their hands over That Dog’s face and lumber stiff-legged at her in order to mimic a toddler’s movements, the guy said, and then gave That Dog a card before she was allowed in certain dog runs back in the day in Singapore) the Person Pretending To Be Toddler did not require her to walk in a straight line….)

On the way to the school bus Rockstar has run at full speed in the chilly morning wind through the adjacent play area, rammed into the dog and fallen over, then in fury asked why we can’t “get a new dog.” 

Anyway we make it home, and that evening make the Chicken Noodle Chicken Soup because I can’t find chicken stock and so dump chicken noodle into the pot instead (yes I cook this way! Rockstar chopped tomatoes and potatoes!) and then next evening after school Rockstar starts on the gingerbread.

 

 

No it is not easy. The icing just went everywhere – Rockstar took one look and one lick, declared the icing was “disgusting” and mostly methodically stuck M&Ms and sprinkles.

Case in point: Before

After (he ate everything but the sprinkles)

I don’t know how people who bake and decorate cakes do it – IT’S SO HARD. It’s so annoying! Do bakers swear all the time? Resort to a life of crime? Secretly order from Sift (she’s a former banker btw) and Cova? When I’m done with the fiddly icing bag and eating so many “mistakes” I feel sick (and this Rockstar is no help – HOW can an almost-5yr old not like icing?! Okla to be fair he licked up a couple of his own mistakes but not without an “Ew”.) I do not feel cheerful, warm and happy.

Anyway this the best we could do. Oh, shut up.

Ice, ice baby. How can people DO this for fun, relaxation and all manner of other positive fuzzy feelings, I would like to know? Every time the bloody gingerbread walls collapsed I had to keep from swearing my head off in front of my elder child.

And this one with Ms Rockstar’s contribution:

Crane (per Rockstar) to aid (demolish?) this little rickety gingerbread village’s construction. Even as William, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s blue hippo mascot roars menacingly before going on a stampeding sugar-fueled rampage. That Dog btw, keeps stalking the gingerbread. No I did not give her Rockstar’s sprinkled-to-death leftovers, but she did get a bite of the mostly plain gingerbread he was eating.

Ms Rockstar chose the Christmas Tree baby toy (kept looking at that one over the others but I forgot to snap a pic of her chewing the top of the tree) – you can fit the baby-friendly star on top, and it opens up to reveal a crinkly gift-wrapped pressie and little bear rattle. Loves! Rather than all the powdery glittery fake snow decor I shall deck our halls with baby friendly toys.

More pics soon…

Ps: I’m kinda hoping for a potted (never as pretty – there’s this kind they ship in from the States that is really lovely but always chopped down) tree we can put on the balcony after so wish me luck with that too 🙂

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Rockstarism #237 – The Other Rockstar

Posted on November 19, 2012 by admin

**Updated on 20 Nov at bottom

Recently, a girlfriend whose child attends an ESF school in a different catchment area told me Rockstar’s name had come up with another mutual acquaintance. Hearing of the apparent encounter between Rockstar and a little girl on the playground, purportedly him having been blunt and hurt her feelings several weeks ago, I vow to ask him to say something nice to her – especially since she seemed to have been upset enough that this apparently made it to the other school and back many weeks later. And so when he got back from school…

Me: Hi darling, how was your day?

Rockstar: It was ok, it was good <shrugs>…

Me: Did you see (aforementioned little girl) on the playground today?

Rockstar: Nope…

Me: Oh…. Well do you think you can do me a favor please?

Rockstar: Yeah, what?

Me: I think she might be a bit upset by stuff you said to her awhile ago <Rockstar gives me a puzzled frown>, d’you think next time you bump into her on the playground you could say something nice so she knows it’s not that you don’t like her?

Rockstar: <thinks for moment> I’ll try, but I’ve never seen her on the playground.

Me: Well, if you could just – wait. You’ve never seen her?

Rockstar: Nope. It’s very hard to see her, and I also want to find (his favorite friend.) And her class is far away. I know because I asked her what class she was in when we were going to the school bus(es).

Me: You’ve never seen her on the playground? You didn’t see her pick up an eraser off the floor on the playground?

Rockstar: What?

Me: Did you see her pick a pencil eraser up off the floor in the playground?

<Rockstar shakes head disinterestedly>

Me: Anywhere? Ever?

Rockstar: Hmm?

Me: You didn’t tell her keeping the eraser was stealing? And then say she was lying after she said she would, but then didn’t try, to return it? (You can see why it hadn’t occurred to me Rockstar didn’t do it, him being Mr Anal And Everything Has To Be Black Or White)

Rockstar: <thoughtfully> The only thing I’ve said to her is “What class are you in?”

Me: Well… Anyway next time you see her can you say something nice?

Rockstar: <seriously> I could say “Good Morning”… But it’s very hard –

Me: To catch her on the playground – yes, you said….

Which is when I finally remember hearing sometime back that there is another boy in their year with the same name as Rockstar’s. Even their family names sound similar enough that sometime back when we were applying to primary school the two boys had also gotten mixed up briefly…

Me: Remember you told me you met Other Rockstar? What does he look like, does he look like you?

Rockstar: Oh, quite different. He looks nothing like me – he looks quite Korean.

??!!

I want to ask Boy, What You Think You Look Like Ah? Oh wait, I did. He said…….

Not Korean. 

Me: What “not Korean”.

Rockstar: Not Korean. I don’t look Korean. 

Me: Uh… Do you think you look Asian?

Rockstar: Yeah. Just not Korean.

Me: What Korean/ Not Korean?? What’s the “Korean” look??

Rockstar: <patiently> Not like me. <later on, looks at my screen> Are you typing that? (He doesn’t think it’s interesting)

Sigh. At some point you just decide to stop talking. Anyway it would appear people sometimes mix Rockstar up with another boy at school…

A Picture Of He Who Does Not Look Korean, According To Him, Shyly Trying On Fedora I Just Bought From Zara Kids

ps: I finally got out of him that by “Korean” he means have “Asian eyes” with the single eyelids. Apparently he doesn’t think his eyes look like that…..

pps: Had Rockstar told the other girl off he would probably have responded to my asking with a What’s Wrong With That attitude… He accepts full punishments for misdemeanors (for now anyway) – for e.g. when he was supposed to finish an IXL math module before watching Lego videos on Youtube while I walked the dog and then didn’t finish the module, (I would later discover there was something he hadn’t understood after I left him with the laptop, and then he’d gotten bored), he gravely accepted that in future I wouldn’t ready the Youtube for him til after he had finished schoolwork (i.e. added inconvenience of waiting til I get back with dog), and that he would have to do an extra module because I was annoyed he hadn’t finished. In fact, he volunteered the extra module.

But it’s kinda hard to explain to the proverbial little girls with erasers so I’ll take “Good Morning” while trying to preempt any harsh judgements… 

**UPDATE: Rockstar came home from school and told me he had done it. Told the girl off about the eraser. So it wasn’t Other Rockstar, it was my Rockstar. Who had forgotten (also not paid much attention when I tried to talk to him about it at first) til he’d gone back to school and seen her somewhere, and then realized on the playground he had encountered her once before the school holidays (yes quite a long time ago). AND he still thought the eraser thing was wrong, “She’s quite nice, except for that one time she was a little naughty…” So I did the whole “technically it’s wrong, but you could have helped her find a way to return it (lost & found box or something), instead of getting all puffed up and telling her off” speech I originally intended. 

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