Monday 26 August 2013

How my tooth dropped (by 小tz).

When I was eating "Hi-Chew", I felt something hard and realized that it was my tooth. My mother kept it in a small ziplock bag.

I did not cry when my tooth dropped. After that, I was still happy. I liked it when my tooth dropped.

Afterwards, we went to Harbourfront to eat PastaMania. I ate chocolate chip ice cream and bacon pasta. My mother ate tom yam pasta and drank iced tea. I like to eat PastaMania because I like the kids' meal.

When we got home, we bathed and got dressed. When I was sleeping, my mother took a photo of my tooth. After that, I was asleep.

The end for how my tooth dropped.

Note from cRaZy dAdDy:
We got a little worried when her new tooth is out but the existing tooth still stuck in her mouth. Got her to see 2 different dentists thrice just to be sure. Well, almost wanted to get it pulled out and was pretty worried she will cry for days resulting from the pain. Surprise! Hee...

Friday 16 August 2013

I moved... (PG13)

Boarded a crowded MRT train during peak hours last week to meet yt and 小tz at Orchard Road.

I moved backwards to create space for those came in after me. 2 finger pokes stopped me from moving further. I discovered I am too close to the 2 ladies standing behind me.

I moved a little forward to keep a safe distance between me and the 2 ladies, not wanting the word "Molest!" to come out from their mouth. Before I know, my face got smacked into a wall of hairs. Arghh... now I am too close to the young lady in front. So close that I got a little worried she may scream "Molest!".

I moved my right hand to cover my media sensitive, controversial and well, problematic (in this instance) body part that occupies the lower part of my body. Oh NO!!! The back of my hand (back hor, not palm) touches something soft!

I moved my hand away with the speed of light, and pray. Crossing my fingers, toes and even hairs (Ops, no hair) praying that she will not shout "Molest!".

No, she did not shout "Molest!" and I did not ended up at a police station. She must be a seasoned urban warrior that battles the squeezy MRT train daily.

She, not me!

It kind of sad that we have to live in such a crowded city. Sigh~

I so so so missed travelling on my usual trip that day. The trip that is against the traffic, the trip with lots of space and even seats readily available for me.

Lesson learnt: (1) Try not to travel to town during peak hours. (2) If I need to travel, bring along a bag to shield that troublesome body part of mine. And (3) I must learn to suck in that body part of mine, just like how I suck in my stomach, in case I cannot avoid travelling to town and forget to bring along a bag.

What if the new MRT lines diverted traffic to the line I frequently travelled? What if they build more factories and offices around my house and workplace? What if there are more shopping centres, cinemas and night spots near my house and workplace? What if our population continue to increase?
No, no, no.... so negative!

What if I get myself a car and be free from the squeezy MRT train, and cutting my travelling time from 1.5 hours to just 20 minutes?

Err... wait! Money not enough leh.

Can I still look for a sugar daddy or mummy at age 45? Haha...

Friday 9 August 2013

I am writing on daddy’s blog, AGAIN!

I told daddy I want to write on his crazy daddy blog, so you see me again. I am going to talk about how I learn to cycle. 

The first time daddy brought me downstairs to practice my cycling, I forget everything and I am so scared I will fall down. Then I asked daddy:

"Can we go back now?"

And daddy said:

"No, we just came down. It is still early. Let's practice some more."

Then I get better and know how to stop and cycle straight. I enjoyed it so much that I keep cycling. But every time I stopped, daddy has to catch up with me to help me start cycling again. Daddy is so tired then and he asked me:

"Can we go back now?"

And I said:

"No, we just came down. It is still early. Let's practice some more."

So funny, right? Haha... ...

I really love going downstairs to cycle with daddy every Sunday. Oops, I meant I cycle and daddy walk or run along. Hee hee... It is only until the third time then I told daddy I want to learn how to start cycling on my own. That is when I have to cycle one big round, stopped next to daddy for him to guide me on how to start cycling, then another big round, then start all over again, tiring you know? But I love it cause after 20 minutes, I can start cycling on my own.

Last Sunday was the worst! Daddy swing me left and right between 3 very close columns. Daddy is not good either; lucky I finally learned how to do sharp turn before he got giddy catching me between the columns and swinging me. Hee hee...


No, I did not write everything here. I just told daddy a bit here and a bit there, then he joined it up for me one. Oops... Mummy says must write good English.
;p

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Growing Old.

"Age is mind over matter; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter." (Grily, 2013).

Grily, who?

A participant in the course I attended few months back. She stressed again and again, she read the phrase from somewhere, not hers.

Is it true?

Hello, the phrase. Not about Grily or whether she is the originator of the phrase, or not. Haha...

Life is so unpredictable. There are so many things happening in our life that we hope we are able to predict its arrival so that we can be better prepared. However, there is just one thing in life that everybody knows its coming. We don't need to have super natural power to do so. You have the answer? 

DEATH.

Whether you are rich, poor, healthy, weak, powerful and/or normal, you will DIE.

So am I prepared to die? Yes, I am.

Am I scared or worried? Yes, I am.

I am also equally worried about the journey towards death and the process of ageing. I contributed to my group's positive scoring of ageing at 4/13. Yes, a failing mark that reflected our negative perception towards ageing. It's not just me or our group. Not even one individual or group gave ageing a passing mark during the course.

SAD?! Yes, it is.

Well, it's not the end for the elders. The score is subjective and pretty much influenced by the views of the person, people surrounding the person and the general perceptions of elders. We are currently living in the world where majority of the population are in their 30s and 40s. Man being man, tends to be selfish and therefore, little resources and thoughts are being put into supporting the elders.

Elders are the minority for now.

It's about perception of the average person on the street on growing old. Most are young and failed to see the need of the elders, as they are energetic. They focused only on earning and spending their money. This pushes prices up and that in turns forces people to work harder and bring in more money. The need to bring food to the table and support the young to face the competitive world out is real, very REAL.

So what about the elders?

Do you want your own score on growing old to be so low? I am sure I will hear the unison answer.

NO!!!

Remember how we tried explaining to our parents that we needed the little privacy and space? How we assured them we are capable to look after ourselves? How we hope they will respect our views and decision? How we complaint about our parents nags, scold, control and not being understanding to our needs? 

We all wanted to be a better elder. An elder that is loved by all, an elder that respect their children and grand children's views, an elder that is less demanding and controlling. However, how many of us actually put words into action? The reality between what we wanted and what actually happened when we grow old?

Bingo! We morphed into the same person that we have being complaining.

The cycle just keeps going.

It's not easy to grow old. The lost of relationship, income, power, control and self-worth resulted in us changing to the person we never wanted to be.


Do you want to break the cycle? Yes, I am determined. You?

Thursday 1 August 2013

"Daddy, you scratched yourself again?! "

 tz: "Daddy, you scratched yourself again?! "

Me: "No dear, I wanted to help a person I know who looked lost yesterday and he scratched me on my wrist when I approached him. "

tz: "Daddy, is the person like the people you looked after in your office? "

Me: "Yes dear. "

tz: "This will not happen in your office right? "

Me: "No. It may happen in my office too. Sometimes we get urgent request to look after people when their family is going through difficult time. Being put in an unfamiliar place, away from their families and not having enough time for us to get to know them better, it is possible for them to scream and cry for days. At times, resulting from fear and in an attempt to protect themselves, they may also start attacking unfamiliar people who suddenly appeared in their life. "

tz: "Daddy, if they attack others then they are really naughty right? "

Me: "No la, while they may look older than you, they can only think like when you were 2 years old. When you were 2 years old, can you understanding everything I say now and everything that is happening around you? "

tz: "No, daddy. But why they can only think like when I was 2 years old? "

Me: "Because they were born that way or have an illness that damaged their brain. It is daddy's job to look after them and teach them to be able to do everything on their own. tz, not everybody is as fortunate as you. A lot of people don't have daddy, mummy and grandma like you. "

tz: "Ok daddy. But why do you have to talk to them? I thought you are the boss, people work for you and your job is to write emails and papers?

Me: "tz, the company doesn't belong to daddy. They were daddy's colleagues and we worked as a team. We are just doing different jobs. Daddy's job on top of writing email and paper, is also to lead the team and help my colleagues with their job. To lead means to be in front and help my colleagues with the problems they faced. Anyway, it's bad to think that the boss just tell others to do work without helping and teaching them how to do the work. "

tz: "Ok daddy."

This was probably a little too heavy for tz to know about intellectual disability and the right approach towards leadership. I tried to use simple terms to relate to her on my thoughts but I am not sure how much she can understand. I am amazed by how much tz knows about me, about my job and my frequent need to write emails and papers. It goes to show how much she had been observing and checking on me. So who is observing and monitoring who now? Hmmm...

The conversation happened while I was standing next to tz, who sat next to a lady in the bus on our way home. When the lady got up to align, she turned and smiled to tz and I. She might have found our conversation interesting, or she might have the "You very the can, not sure how much your daughter will understand. " look. Haha...

Well, at least another public might have a better understanding on person with intellectual disability and the challenges they faced. Just like the jar of pencils, highlighters, pens and cutter, each have their uses, limitations and characteristic. The jar, like the public and a leader, need to support the pencils, highlighters, pens and cutter, yet giving them adequate space to have freedom of choices and opportunities to display their uses.