What is your favorite subject?

During a lunch to celebrate Mother's Day... ...

Grandma: "小tz, what is your favorite subject in school?"

小tz kept quiet... ...

Grandma: "Is it English, Math or Chinese?"

小tz still did not answer grandma's question.

Mummy: "I know. P.E., right?"

小tz nodded her head.

Grandma: "Why P.E.?"

Mummy: "Don't need to study ma. Right, 小tz?"

小tz nodded her head again.

Grandma: "What is your second favorite subject?"

Mummy: "I can answer for her. Her second favorite subject is Music, third is Art and if there's a fourth favorite subject, it will be dancing. Right, 小tz?"

小tz: "Mummy, how do you know?"

Mummy: "All don't need to study. Right?"

Daddy at the side facepalming...

Aiyo, this is not the way darling. Academic results are still very important at this stage of your life. Without it, you can't go far. You are fortunate that your daddy is not like your grandfather. If not for the fact that it is compulsory to have an ECA, I would never get a chance to play a saxophone. True enough, even when the school allowed me to go back, your grandfather stopped me and asked me to focus on my polytechnic studies. I started drawing straight lines in architectural plans instead of still life with shades and shadows. 

Your grandfather said to me: "Complete your studies, earn a salary, then do what you want."

So I picked up my saxophone again when I was 27, learned cartoon drawings when I was 29, started Taiko Drumming and doing arts when I was 30+. 

I stopped all those again many years back because you and mummy came into my life. In life, we have our obligations and responsibilities. Sometimes, we needs to put personal interest aside for other greater responsibilities.

I am not asking you to be what your grandfather had asked me to be. You don't need to stop all your interest and hobbies. What, I asked for is that you put some effort into your studies, to get a good grade and have the capability to pursue your higher education. 

The minimum requirement for education had changed over times. When I was in my primary school, I was told that having a PSLE will get you an executive job. Before I can even completed my primary school education, it was said that you need a Secondary School education. Then a degree when I was in polytechnic. Now it's a master if you wanted a good and comfortable life.

It's not that I wanted to force you to study. What I wanted was to ensure that you build the minimum foundation, while I can still bring in the money to support your education. Thereafter, it is okay for you to explore your other interest as I am assured you have a safety net in case things doesn't work out.

Put some effort into your study, please, darling.

Video: 小tz introducing me to her new game. 

Do you have this?

Do you know what this is? It is a Rainbow Loom. The latest craze among kids and I just got one from my daughter last night. She proudly told me that she made it for me and mine was the first she had completed, others in our family will still have to wait for their turn. She took half a day to make it and I must wear it forever, she said. She also mentioned that she had carefully chosen “boy boy” colour for me so it’s ok for me to wear it at work.

I proudly show it to the audience during a presentation this morning. Not only to illustrate how close I am with 小tz , but also to put across a point that it is difficult for parents to let go of their child even when they are adults. However, it is a must as parents will never be able to outlive their children.

I keep telling myself to have the determination to let 小tz have the opportunities to learn to be independent and be resilience to face challenges in life.

Thanks for the Rainbow Loom 小tz. 

Yes, I will wear it with me forever and take good care of it. After all, you did warn that if I lost it, then I will have to wait till you complete making for everybody before it is my turn again.

Love you 小tz.

Simple things in life that leads to happiness.

Wednesday, 24 Apr 2014 at 7:20pm.

While waiting to cross the road at a bus stop, I saw an elderly man coming down from the next bus, running, waving at the bus in front of me and trying to catch up to board the bus. I smiled and waved at the driver, indicating that the elderly man is trying to board the bus. She looked at her side mirror, smiled and nodded.

Up on the bus, the elderly man smiled and thanked the driver for waiting. The driver smiled and pointed to me. Both the driver and the elderly man turned and smiled at me before the bus drove off the bus stop.

Nothing special, just some show of gratitude, simple gestures, acknowledgement and smiling by 3 strangers that makes the day for all the 3 of us. Simple things in life we do that leads to happiness.

Reaching home, I was rewarded with a bowl of salmon porridge topped with white baits, just like what 小tz is having.

Actually, I rushed home just to have dinner with the little fellow. yt SMS me earlier that our little princess was having fever and ate very little during lunch. Rushing home for dinner, I hope to encourage 小tz to eat more. I tried to eat as slowly as I could, hoping she would eat more with me accompanying her. Well, it's hard to overcome the old habit; I was done with my big bowl when she was still trying to finish half of the porridge on her small bowl.

The little fellow smiled, for it's the second time her crazy daddy have dinner at home with her.

Love you little fellow.

It's just 9 minutes.

It's just 9 minutes.

9 minutes of laughter, fun and teamwork on Friday, 16 May 2014 starting at 7:41pm, presenting an opening performance for 400 audiences during our Organisation’s Dinner & Dance in Compass Ballroom, Level B2, Convention Centre, Resort World Sentosa.

But this isn’t our usual 9 minutes. Lots of effort had been channelled into the preparation for the 9 minutes. The selection of the 3 songs for the medley, the changes after changes made to the choreography, the recording of demonstration video for the song signing and dance movements, the script writing, the planning and recording of the video to be screened on the actual day, the rehearsals, and the coordination of the sequences with about 60 persons across several centres all carried out within one and a half month. We even managed to make some last minute changes to the choreography due to on-site constraints.

The end result is simply and wonderfully great feeling seeing the surprise look from the audiences. When they thought that it's it, we managed to surprise them again and again, giving them wave after wave of excitements. I personally liked 4 segments of the entire performances that thrilled the audiences. First was the interruption to the usual countdown with a 2 minutes humorous video, teaching the audiences the Key Word Signs needed for the song signing subsequently. Then mid way through our first song "We go together" when the audience thought it was just a usual stage performance, the stage dancers interacted with the 8 dancers who suddenly appeared on the 2 big projector screens. The third excitement comes after the first song ended and when the audience started clapping thinking that it is the end. We surprised them with the beginning of our flash mob with 22 people walking out from within the audience and signed the chorus of "I just called to say I love you". Lastly, they were overwhelmed with 60 of us joining in to dance in the grand finale of “You can’t stop the beat!”.

This is definitely a fun and energetic moment for all of us! In my self-praised opinion, it was an awesome performance and I am delighted to be involved with the team of fun and committed people. It is also my first experience to be in the team, coordinating a flash mob for 60 people.

While I am full of praise to the team for a great effort (self-praise again, haha…), there were also lessons we should learn from this experience. (1) We need to use more contrasting colours in the video, to prevent the video having a wash out effect if we are unable to dim portions of the room's lights. (2) If we intend to have audience participation, it should not be done towards the end of the performance. We also need time to warm up the audiences.

Lastly, this post is intended for everybody that participated and/or contributed towards the fun, joy and success of this flash mob. It is equally important to dedicate this post to my daughter, 小tz who had watched all the video we produced over and over again during the one and a half month when I was helping to prepare for the flash mob. She had also been singing:

I just called to say I love you,I just called to say how much I care,I just called to say I love you,And I meant it from the bottom of my heart.

This will definitely form part of the great memory I had, and I would like to thank everybody for giving me that opportunity to try something new!

Photo: Part of the organizing team for the flash mob.