Tuesday 29 November 2011

Yahoo!!! What a beautiful scene!

The old lady I mentioned in my last posting that used to struggle and walk with difficulties to the coffee shop near my block. The old lady I saw with a maid on my way to the market. The same old lady I saw this morning after my Tai Chi session, seating at the coffee shop having her breakfast.

Replacing the maid was a middle age Chinese lady. Is she her daughter? Comforting was the sight that the middle age lady was seen assisting the old lady with her bowl of soup noodles.

What a beautiful scene to start my day! Good morning everybody!!!

:-D

Games and being judgmental, me!

I am addicted to not 1, but 2 stupid games.

That is what I first thought when I saw people playing those games. How stupid can a person be, staring at the tiny phone screen, throwing birds on structures and killing pigs? How boring is it to park airplanes and helicopters on an airfield? I am sure there better, more meaningful things to do than playing those games. The thought keep surfacing in my mind. Not saying it out and not telling people playing those games because it would be judgmental and against the training I received. Anyway, thinking about it even without saying aloud is already being judgmental. Yes, whether it has been said or not, having those thoughts had already affected my perception of people playing those 2 games. Now, are we talking about theory versus actual practice?

The person, who laughs at others will ultimately, be the last person to be laughed at. That happens to be me when my daughter requested for the 2 games, Angry Birds and Air Control to be downloaded so that she can play on my phone. Now, not sure if it is her games or mine since I ended playing it more than she does. Yes, I am addicted to the 2 stupid games. Whenever I am played those games on the train, subconsciously I would look around and I cannot stop wondering what others think when they saw this 40+ old man playing such childish games. Retribution... Haha.

To be fair to both games, only when I start playing, then did I notice the challenges and excitement they brought to me. For Angry Birds, in order to proceed to the next level, I need to know the strength and weaknesses of the different type of birds and the structures the pigs erected, before I can be successful in destroying the structures and killing the pigs. For Air Control, it is about mapping and planning the routes, taking into consideration of the characteristics of the airfield and airplanes to achieve safe landing for the airplanes. So while the games look simple, I need some thinking before succeeding and proceeding to the next level.

So what did I learnt from this? Well, next time if I heard anybody saying "I understand how you feel", I will say it is all bullshit! No amount of knowledge and logical thinking entitle us to say those words. Human beings can never be logical. Moreover, even if one had gone through the same experience, he is still not entitled to say those words. We have different upbringing, different character and different support mechanism so nobody can have the same feeling and ever earned the right to say "I understand how you feel".

I had learnt that no amount of effort will be helpful unless I am determined to stop that addiction. I also learnt that once I determined and found a solution to stop addiction, the period I get addicted to those games gets shorter. I no longer play Air Control as frequent and unlike Angry Birds, I had yet completed all the levels.

Oh, I just brought 小tz to watch the Angry Birds show at Ngee Ann City last Saturday. Ops! Hey, 小tz wants to watch, not me. Hee...

Thursday 24 November 2011

小tz and I.

“1, 2, 3 and 4 fishes. That’s all I am going to share with you daddy, because you are naughty today.”

Just 4 tiny white-baits for a plate of rice! OMG!!! Lucky it is a plate of fried rice and not white rice. Oh no… life is going to get tougher.   
:’(

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Growing old...

While walking to the market for my breakfast last Sunday, I saw the old lady that I see every night, struggling and walking with difficulty to the coffee shop near my block for supper.

It is very unusual to see her in the morning. Even more unusual were her neatly combed hair, clean and tidy dress, and the addition of a young lady holding her and walking next to her. My guess is that the young lady is likely a maid engaged by the old lady's children to look after her. Her live seems to be improved as she looks better, neater and walk faster with the support from the young lady.

However, she seems to be leaning on the young lady for support and I wondered if the presence of the young lady create an over dependence for the older lady. Will the old lady's fighting spirit and dignity disappear with the appearance of the young lady? After all, I had seen her struggling since I moved in 6 years ago. She had been surviving and I don't recall seeing her children. Why the sudden change? Are those changes requested by her? I am not in a position to judge as a stranger, but I thought, the picture would have been much beautiful if she is seen with the younger lady, her children and even grandchildren. Maybe they did visit her and have meals with her, but I happen not see them.

In this current fast pace, money and time demanding society, people hardly have the luxury of time to spend with people they loved. It also seems that some of us had forgotten how to love and we substitute it with fulfilling the materialistic needs of people we love, feed them with health supplements and provide alternative care with the employment of a maid.

This had been so commonly practice that people we loved too, either accepted or mistaken those as the signs of love. Sometimes, those practices become so habitual that people continue to practice them into their old age. Only when the practices were administered on them, then they realized that it cannot substitute love. A thought so commonly shared by many elders I befriended when I volunteered with a group looking after the needs of destitute elderly staying alone.

Fortunately or not, I do not have the capability to fulfill materialistic needs and neither am I able to engage a maid to provide alternative care. So for me, I am back to the tradition method of spending limited but quality time with my daughter. I am enjoying every single moment of my time with my daughter.

Back to the topic of aged care, I would rather struggle and take my time to complete my daily tasks then to have my freedom, rights and dignity taken away from me when I am old.

Heard that 小tz? I know that comes your time, you may be faced with an even more demanding work environment and you too, need to maintain good work-life balance with your family. So daddy is fine staying alone with mummy but do have meals with us so that we know you are well.

小tz and I.

小tz: Daddy, can you put more new games in your phone?

Me: My phone does not have enough space to put in too many games, unless I take away some of your older games. Ok?

小tz: Ok daddy. Take away the piano, guitar and tunnel games and put in 3 new games can? Remember, I want the car racing game.

Me: Ok darling.