Stiff Neck

Either I have not been sleeping right or I have recently been carrying too many academic books (on statistics) around to and fro the office (most likely the latter). It started yesterday and seemed to be on the mend last night but it got worse today. :( I think I might have pulled the neck muscle too when I was waking Marieann up for school this morning. Sigh.

iPad Coming Soon!

I just heard from a good friend that iPad will be officially launched in Singapore on Friday 23 July. Haha. I bet this is great news to those who are hankering after an iPad. :) I have a feeling this first batch of iPad will be sold out quickly, very, VERY QUICKLY lol.

150 Years

Within the space of 1 month, we have experienced 150 years! Amazing lol.

Before you decide I have gone nuts, let me explain. You remember the flash floods that we have been experiencing in Singapore? The first severe flash flood was on 16 June, followed by another one on 25 June and the last one just yesterday, on 17 July. You remember what the government said when the first flash flood occurred? It was a one-in-50 years occurrence. Following that logic, now with 3 flash floods within a month, didn't we then just experienced 150 years?!

I hope the government will look seriously into the problem. To put it down as a freak accident occurring once in 50 years is fine for the first flash flood, but with the second and third flash floods, it just seemed too much for them to be freak accidents again.

In The Genes

Juliane followed my mother and I to our hairdresser's as both of us needed a trim. Juliane was very attentive in watching what the hairdresser did with our hair. I was getting a bit worried that Juliane might decide to be creative with a pair of scissors when she goes home lol.

Juliane was enjoying herself and she was only visibly upset at one point of time at the hairdresser's. That's when our hairdresser was telling both my mother and I that we have natural curls. Juliane immediately asked, "Me leh?". "You have straight hair". At once, Juliane pouted and said, "Not fair". Oh well, I guess it has to be in the genes to have natural curls.

Follow the Lead

When you watch a movie, is it because
(a) of the movie genre,
(b) of the raving review it has been getting, or
(c) of the leading actor or actress?

I guess it could be anything, one of the above, or a combination of two or a combination of all three. I usually go for a combination of (a) and (b). However when the movie has Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead, it is definitely a (c) for me. :) :) :)

I have watched many movies starring Leonardo DiCaprio such as "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", "Titanic" (I saw it 5 times haha :P), "Romeo+Juliet", "The Man in The Iron Mask", "Gangs of New York", "Catch Me if You Can", "The Beach", "The Aviator", "The Departed", "Blood Diamond", "Body of Lies", "Revolutionary Road" and "Shutter Island". Now his latest movie is "Inception" which is a must watch! Although I started out watching the movies for the lead, Leonardo DiCaprio, I am lucky too in that his movies are often in a genre that I love and his movies often received raving reviews. :)

Undecided? Ask Paul

If you can't decide between two options, you can now ask Paul. Paul who? Paul the Octopus! Ok, not the Paul, the Oracle Octopus who predicted accurately the results of the World Cup matches but Paul the Octopus, an iPhone application. Trust someone to come up with a winning idea like that, no pun intended lol. :P To ask "Paul", the iPhone user has to key in two options, e.g. Cycling or Swimming and a cartoon octopus will choose between them. Sounds fun. :)

Hmm, I wonder if this iPhone Paul can help to choose between two sets of 4D numbers?! Haha :P

New Seasons, New Series

New Seasons:
A couple of TV series returning such as Legend of The Seeker S2, and Lost S6.

New Series:
A couple of new series now showing or showing soon such as Coma, and Stargate Universe.

Need to find time to watch them lol. :P

Learning

I was invited to a MOE Seminar on assessment. Apart from learning about MOE's latest initiative in assessment at the seminar, I also learnt about how former colleagues from schools and from MOE HQ are doing as I caught up with them at the seminar lol. :)

World Cup 2010

For me, the most memorable moment of World Cup 2010 is not how Spain won their first World Cup but how Paul the Oracle Octopus predicted accurately the results of 8 matches! Haha. :P It is amazing. Simply amazing how Paul did it 8 times. I doubt even a psychic can be as accurate as Paul was. It's a pity we probably won't see Paul's amazing predicting ability at the next World Cup as he is fast approaching the average 3-year life span for an octopus. Hopefully he will pass on his ability to another octopus. :P

FDW is Here!

My FDW is finally here. :) Both my mother and I are thankful with her arrival as both of us (mainly my mother) have been doing the household chores. In the next month or two, my mother will train our new FDW, Mora on how to cook Chinese dishes, especially the girls' favourite dishes. :)

PS. Several people have asked me how did the girls' father help with the daily housework by going back to his mother's place. Well, he didn't physically do any of the housework. But his logic is: by going home to his mother's every night for dinner and getting his mother to do his laundry until the new FDW arrives, he has cut down on our housework and therefore, he has helped with the housework even though he hasn't lifted a finger to do the daily housework. Some *ixxxxxx* logic huh.

Beary Fun Party

My girls were thrilled to be invited to Jewel's birthday party held today at Build-A-Bear, Vivocity, 2-4pm. They were thrilled not just because the party was held at Build-A-Bear but also because they get to play with Jewel again. Marieann and Jewel were kindergarten friends and they were lucky to end up in the same primary school. Juliane of course knew Jewel through Marieann. The three girls have gone out together to the Science Centre, the Singapore Zoo and have been to movies as well.

The party started with a Treasure Hunt where the children had to look for certain items in the shop, followed by each child choosing a soft toy animal to make for themselves and lastly, the birthday song and cake. I think the girls enjoyed the soft toy making the best as they get to choose what animal they want to make and the outfit to go with it. Both Marieann and Juliane chose the plain bear as it would have a fancier outfit to go with it. The funny thing is, there were many different outfits which the sisters could pick from, but both of them pick the same outfit! They both reached for the cloth hanger at the same time. No wonder they are sisters haha. Now I have to find a way to differentiate the bears or the sisters might end up fighting over which bear is whose.


The sisters' identical looking bears in the same Witch outfit

All the girls with their soft toy animals


All too soon, the party ended. The girls really enjoyed themselves and they asked if they could go out with Jewel again, maybe during one of the public holiday or during school holidays. I guess I will make arrangements with Jewel's mother soon, maybe an outing during the National Day weekend. :)

"Postcards Needed" Thank You

I just want to say thank you on behalf of my 5 year old nephew in UK to all my friends, my colleagues, my former students as well as my readers who have responded to my recent post, Help!! Postcards Needed!!! either by sending postcards to him via his school or by forwarding my blog post to your friends in hope of getting more postcards.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HELP! :)

Hopefully, through this postcard project of his, my nephew will learn more about the world and also more importantly, he will learn about the importance of having family and friends. :)

Final Lap

I had my dissertation supervision with my supervisors today. There are still some revisions to be made to strengthen my dissertation. My co-sup believe that I am ready for external examination by early August. Only a month from now...

I don't know why but I am beginning to have self-doubt... Sigh, if only I have my co-supervisor's confidence.

Acceptance Notification

Marieann brought back a form today. It notified us that Juliane has been successfully enrolled at SCGS for Primary 1 in 2011. :) Her P1 orientation will be on 20 November. However, Juliane wasn't too happy about going to SCGS and her reason is "there is so much homework in SCGS, look at Jie Jie doing homework all the time".

I will have to change her mindset before the end of the year.

Money Money Money

Pretty accurate lol.

Your Money Personality is Reasonable

You are not concerned with your finances. If you have money, you spend it... simple as that. No lah, I do save some money too. Even if you have money problems, you try to avoid letting them stress you out. You try to stay on top of your finances. True. You are a careful and reasonable person. You think clearly before you make a decision. Yes, because money don't grow on trees lol. You are the type of person who has trouble throwing things away. You tend to have a bit of clutter in your life. ABSOLUTELY TRUE. I have more receipts in my wallet than money hahaha. :P

What Does Your Wallet Say About You?

Help!! Postcards Needed!!!

My 5 year old nephew in UK needs help with his class project. The class needs to have as many postcards as possible sent to the class from as many different countries as possible. It is a meaningful project as the children will learn about the different countries through these postcards.

If you can spare a little time (and a little money), please help by sending a postcard showing scene(s) of the country you are in to his class. The class address is:

Class 2
Fullwood Primary School
21-24 Burford Close
Barkingside
IG6 1ER
UK

Please help if you can. It is for a good cause: educating our next generation.
Thanks much in advance. :)

A Bowling Good Time

Marieann was invited to her classmate's birthday party 2-5pm at Singapore Island Club. The birthday programme had bowling first, followed by swimming. Interesting. :) I brought Juliane along with me but I told her that she couldn't join in the party as she wasn't invited. Juliane is a good girl and without complaining, she quietly watched her sister and cheered for Marieann during Marieann's turn to bowl.

Marieann in action - her first time bowling

Marieann had lots of fun bowling with her classmates as well as splashing around in the pool with her classmates. I am glad that Marieann gets along well with her classmates. I think the worst nightmare for any parent is if your child is anti-social either by being a recluse or by being a bully.


Juliane playing with the water features next to the kiddie pool

Marieann totally enjoyed herself at the birthday party. She was completely knocked out in the ride home lol. We were supposed to go out for dinner at Tampopo for Ramen but because Marieann was sleeping, we bought Hokkien Fried Mee from Newton Circus as take-away dinner instead. :P

Kitchen Helper

One of our long-term kitchen helper decided to throw in the towel after having been with us for 11 years. It left us without any last words. We are still reeling from its cruel treatment of us. How could it?! Sigh.

I bought our new Panasonic microwave from Best Denki, Takashimaya. Thanks to my father who did the work of scouting out the best deals first. The new microwave has many functions! :) But I doubt we are ever going to use all the functions except for the most basic one - Reheating. Haha :P

I hope our new microwave will stay with us for a long time to come. :)

Showers, Rain, Thunderstorms

July is supposedly one of the hottest months in Singapore. However, there has no sight of that sunny hot weather anywhere. Instead, it has been raining cats and dogs whenever it could, which is almost every day! Sigh. I have no choice but to wear Crocs pumps as my leather shoes would only get wet. Hope the weather will get better.

Call for Paper

Time flies! I received today via email the notification for call of paper for AERA 2011, New Orleans. Goodness, I only just came back from AERA 2010, Denver less than two months ago. It's tiring thinking about what to present and write about for the next conference. :(