This auntie blogs too

We made it to the RSAF Open House just past 5 p.m. today.  The crowds were not as large as we had expected, probably due to the rain earlier in the afternoon.  Finding a parking space wasn’t a problem, and we were pleasantly surprised by that.

After clearing the security checks (bags, watches and contents of pockets through scanners), we made our way to the fairground.  We were first greeted by one of The Black Knights fighter jets and what do you know?  Standing right next to it, entertaining visitors was LTC Philip Chionh (yes, Zoe Tay’s husband).  He cut a real dashing figure in his black uniform, sunglasses and cap, and many people clamoured to have their photographs taken with him, even though there were a couple of other Black Knights around.

Of course there were other planes being exhibited and Little Guy was very excited.  Besides the fighter jets and helicopters, there were other planes (ok, I’m real bad at all the names of the planes, other then the F16 – go to the first link above to find out more as they are all listed there!) and other military equipment.

We had to queue to get up close to the planes and have pictures taken while seated in the cockpit.  Little Guy got into quite a few of the planes and other vehicles and I could tell he totally enjoyed himself.  Although we did not make it in time for the hot-air balloon, helicopter and plane rides or the aerial display, it was good enough for us.  I intend to bring Little Guy to every open house in future and get on those rides when he’s a little older.

I tried to get pics of the planes but it was impossible to get one without any body spoiling the pic, as there were people posing with the planes at every angle.  So what I did was to aim high – and the next two pics did not turn out too badly, did they?

It was a well thought-out open house – with booths selling souvenirs, T-shirts and aviation related toys.  There was even a huge F&B area where you can fill your stomachs (I didn’t venture in as it was crowded).  The two hours we spent there were enough to tire Little Guy out.

I did notice that most of the children visiting the open house were boys.  Why?  Why do parents decide that their daughters may not be interested in the RSAF or aircrafts?  Why do they stereotype their girls?  Strange, huh?

Anyway, I can be quite sure that most of the boys left the open house wanting to be pilots when they grow up.  Little Guy was no exception.

If you missed this event, you can still visit the RSAF Air Force Museum any time and wait for the next open house… and bring your girls along, ok?

Teachers’ Day is here again – on September 1.  For the past couple of years, I’ve helped Little Guy make simple, little gifts for his pre-school teachers.  And each year, I will be reminded of the past, when I was still a student, when I also made gifts for my teachers.

I’ve read in newspaper and magazine articles, how some people wax lyrical about their favourite and inspirational teachers.  And try as I might, dragging out all the teachers who have taught me, from primary school to university, I CAN’T find anyone, whom I can attribute inspirational to.  I also don’t have a favourite teacher.  Is there something wrong with me?  Are my expectations too high?  Am I the only one with this problem?

I found all my teachers to be average, just people going about their jobs.  There were absolutely terrible ones – those that were cold and distant, but there were also some that were friendly and approachable.  But none really warranted the inspirational or favourite tags from me.

I do know that the younger I was, the more I looked up to my teachers.  Most parents would agree that their young children listen more to their teachers than to them.  And we always say that the little children treat their teachers like gods.  Well, I suppose all of us have gone through that phase.

I’m no exception – but as time wore on, teachers just lost their power over me.  I would remember every smack and every punishment that they meted out on me.  I’m not some sicko, as I do remember when they praised me too (rarely!).  But as I grew, my rebellious streak and cynicism (about almost everything) grew too.  It then became more difficult to win my feelings (it’s not as if the teachers cared anyway).

The few teachers that I had considered likeable were always those that were witty and humorous.  I (and my friends) enjoy a good laugh or two during lessons.  I find that humour helps keep an otherwise boring lesson going.  Sadly, many teachers (at least during my time) lacked that.  They made us fear them more than respect them.  Their doors were closed when they should always be open.

I also think that I would have done much better if my teachers had been more encouraging and generous in giving praises to deserving students (like me?).  Personally, I find myself wanting to go one-up after being praised for work done well.  And I think my teachers (not sure about teachers now) were rather conservative in their appraisal of students.

I completed my university degree many years after I had left school.  I did it whilst working full-time, in a field totally unrelated to my course.  But I did really well, thanks to the tutors and lecturers, both foreign and locals, who were a far cry from those whom I encountered when I was in junior college (JC).

In JC, we seem to be always in a hurry to complete the syllabus.  Assignments were just graded without any or much comments.  More often than not, stern warnings, instead of encouraging remarks were given when tests and assignments turned out badly.  There was no teacher-to-student talk to find out the reasons behind the poor performance and no pep talks.  And we were too afraid to approach our teachers.  Perhaps they were too stressed with having to finish teaching the syllabus on time?

The university lecturers and tutors whom I encountered, were very encouraging.  Their ever positive comments (when I struggled) and praises (when I did well) spurred me on, in the very challenging course.

And thinking about them now, I realize that I should have at least sent them Thank You cards on Teachers’ Day then.  Wait… I did send one to one of my tutors, then I slacked on the others (even though I had planned to).  Sheesh!

Hmm…  come to think of it, I probably expected too much from my teachers when I was younger – I could/should be the one who inspired them, instead of the other way around?  If students can do that, I’m sure we’ll get better teachers and Teachers’ Day can truly be Happy (I know some people who celebrate it grudgingly with teachers they totally dislike)?  I know I celebrated Teachers’ Day because it meant that I had a day off from school!

Have a great holiday!

Ok, as promised in the previous post, I’m now going to write about my current favourite authors/illustrators of children’s books.  I say current, as the list keeps growing as I continue to borrow and buy new books for Little Guy.  I must add that I stumbled upon most of these authors by accident – usually by randomly pulling out books from the shelves at the library.  It is only when I do further research on them that I realize that most of them are award winners.

First up - Viviane Schwarz.  She is a German author/illustrator who now works out of London.  She’s also one of those new generation authors, who has her own website and blog.  This is the beauty of things now - readers can communicate easily with the author.

I actually wrote an email to her, telling her how Little Guy and I enjoyed her book, Timothy and the Strong Pyjamas (our first encounter with her works).  She replied quite quickly, thanking us, and she even included an autographed picture of Monkey, one of the characters in the book.  The quirky thing was that the autograph was that of Monkey’s, not Schwarz’s and Monkey even scrawled our names on the picture!  Nice!  Quirky!  I like!

Not only can we communicate with her, we are also able to take a peek into her everyday life.  Her very nice blog allows us to know more about her – how/what she thinks and works.  There are also links to her friends who are also wonderful illustrators – great for me as I love looking at beautiful illustrations.

It was also from her blog that I found out about her idea, and eventually, her launch, of her free web comic The Sleepwalkers.  Her first story in The Sleepwalkers, The Dream of Being Swallowed is turning out very nicely.  I really wish she would hurry up a bit.  I can’t wait for her other stories.

The following picture is a page (my favourite so far) from the web comic.  Please click on it to see a bigger picture and the details.

Nice right?!

Although Schwarz has only a few books to her name, I’m quite sure we can expect more from her. 

In the meantime, Little Guy and I will await eagerly.

Oops!  I thought that I would be able to cover all my favourite authors in one post, but I now think that each should have (and deserves) a separate post.

So, next up, Satoshi Kitamura!

The best part about having a kid is that I get to grow up all over again.  I get to read Little Guy’s books, play with his toys, draw, paint and colour kiddy stuff (now, when was the last time you drew and painted anything?  Huh?!) 

I had a rather underprivileged childhood as I come from a huge family – we make a neat football team!  Underprivileged, in the sense that we had few toys to play with, and almost no books to read (except for our school books). 

I don’t remember my primary school having a library and didn’t even hear about the existence of public libraries then.  But at that time, we were happy, as ignorance was bliss, just mucking around in our huge garden and backyard in our kampung house.  Strangely though, none of us grew up to have an aversion to books. 

There is a huge gap in my reading history.  I can’t recall any experience in reading children’s books, the kinds that I’m reading with pre-schooler Little Guy now.  I can remember clearly though, reading with relish, Enid Blyton’s books.  This may explain why I’m now so into reading books meant for pre-schoolers. 

Little Guy shares my passion, but I know very well, that he may not like what I like, as adults do have different interpretations of children’s books, however simple the stories may be.  This is because of our years of exposure to the world and hence the different references we may make as we encounter different things and situations.  And I have noted that even in books for pre-schoolers, many authors sneak in themes or lines that only adults can understand fully – can’t quote any examples here as I don’t purposely remember them. 

I used to think adults have no business reading children’s books, unless they are reading to/with children.  But I take that back.  We can learn something from the simplest story or non-fiction children’s books.  And why should anyone miss out on those wonderful and beautiful illustrations that are always found in these books?

If you’re totally stressed out, make a trip to the children’s section of a library or book store and chill out by pulling out some of these books to read.  Why stress yourself out further by reading wordy, adult books?  Take in the large print and wonderful, colourful illustrations and you won’t regret it for a moment.

Sheesh!  I was supposed to write about my current favourite children’s authors and illustrators.  But look at what I’ve done! 

I guess I’ll do that in the next post.  And before you die of my wordiness, here, look at the illustrations of one of my favourite authors/illustrators, Viviane Schwarz (will write about her in my next post).  And oh, the gloomy rabbit at the top of my post is by Satoshi Kitamura, another of my favourite (will write about him too, soon!).

P.S:  The Jurong Regional Library at Jurong East has a huge selection of children’s books, much better than that at the National Library.

I love rainy days!  The past 2 days had been rainy ones! 

Love it!  Love it!  Love it!

And I just love looking at my plants glistening with the rain water.

Once in a while when I get bored, I’ll seek out some quirky stuff that are being sold online.  Take a look at what I’ve found.

Michael Phelps T-shirt:

Terrorist Teapot:

Stress Paul Stress Reliever – imagine squeezing your boss:

Fetch My Keys Dog Key Finder – whistle and dog barks back – perfect for those of you who keep forgetting where you chucked your keys!

Wooden clock – now you see, kayu is not just a stupid wooden block, it’s cool!

And lastly:

Sun Jar – this is my favourite.  This jar stores energy from sunlight in the day and lights up at night.  Perfect for sunny Singapore. 

‘…inside the jar are a highly efficient solar cell, rechargeable battery and low energy LED lamps. When the jar is placed in sunlight the solar cell creates an electrical current that charges the battery over a few hours. This energy is then used at night to power the three LED lamps inside the jar.”

Read more about it here.

I did not provide links for the other items, as not only am I feeling bored, I’m feeling lazy as well.  However, I can tell you that all of them are available here, except for the Michael Phelps T-shirt (go Google it yourself, you lazy bum!).

Singapore has won an Olympic medal at last, after 48 years!  We did not care about the colour of the medal, we’re just hungry for one, any one! 

Amidst all the celebratory headlines and congratulatory messages, detractors are still lamenting the fact that the table tennis players are all China-born ones.  Well, they said the same thing when Khoo Swee Chiow (Malaysian-born) made it to the top of Mt. Everest.  Did you know that several other countries such as The Netherlands and Australia also have China-born players?  Singapore is not the only one using foreign talents.

I’m not against the use of foreign talents who take on Singapore citizenship and do Singapore proud in international tournaments.  It is after all, not easy to uproot oneself at a young age, leaving friends and family behind to settle in a new country.  Put yourself in their shoes – Li Jia Wei left for Singapore when she was 14 years old, her parents remained in China, and she had to give up her citizenship too. 

I don’t know about you, but for me, having a different citizenship from that of your closest family just feels weird, even scary – it’s like cutting off a part of my body.

Watch this video of Li Jia Wei, Feng Tian Wei and their coach Li Guo Dong being interviewed in a CCTV4 program, at Baidu. 

In this video we finally see Jia Wei in her natural self (not in sporting mode) and she certainly broke all the impressions I had of her.  Those impressions were heavily influenced by what I read in the newspapers and magazines.  And watching it right to the end, the story of Feng Tian Wei brought tears to many in the audience.

It just dawned on me then, how difficult it must be for them, in the beginning, and perhaps even now, with all the sporting pressure and separation from their families.  So, to the detractors, stop griping!

Imagine if we had no foreign talent in our table tennis team to shore up the sport.  The sport may languish and in the worst case scenario, the Singapore Table Tennis Association may cease to exist.  The players’ high profiles in the international table tennis scene should be an inspiration to the young, encouraging more to take up the sport.

I hope these same players can reach out to the schools in Singapore, conduct table tennis clinics, play exhibition matches and participate in other activities that will raise the sport’s profile here.  This way, more talents can be developed and hopefully one day, we can have a team that includes some locally-born players as well.  That’s how I see foreign talents truly helping in sports here in Singapore.

Of course, I sincerely hope that these talents continue to contribute to the sporting community here when their competitive careers are over, and not just up and return to their places of birth.

Having said that about foreign talent in sports, I shall digress a bit about foreign talents working here in the commercial world.  These are usually Singapore PRs who adopt the wait-and-see attitude about getting Singapore citizenship.

I remember a long time ago when the deduction of $1 from our salary for CDAC, SINDA, Mendaki, etc, organizations was introduced.  I had 2 colleagues who were Malaysians but were PRs here.  They promptly signed and sent the opt-out forms.  I was totally pissed off!  I know most PRs don’t do that, but I do understand why so many Singaporeans are griping about PRs, who are taking up jobs, enjoying privileged, comfortable lives in Singapore (compared to that in their countries of birth).  Some of these people stay here for almost their entire lives as PRs, not willing to become Singapore citizens.

Has the government ever wondered why?

Things are really different when you are celebrities.

Brad and Angelina ordered expensive Hushamoks for their twins to sleep in.  And these come at USD 429 a piece.  They probably also caused some copycat parents to make a mad rush to the stores in order to own the same thing.

Over here in Singapore, we call this the sarong or 摇篮.

(Pic from eBay)

Most of us must have slept in these when we were babies.  And they certainly don’t cost that much here.

Those designers sure know how to use a cheap idea and make tonnes of money from it.

Watching all the Olympic action on TV reminded me of how athletic, or rather, unathletic, I was in school.

As I was rather tall, and hence blessed with a pair of long legs, my teachers, for some reason, thought that I’d make a good runner and high-jumper.  And I really, really, hated that assumption.

So what if I have long legs?  Legs alone don’t make an athlete, right?  There must be a passion for sports for those legs to get anywhere, and of course the right body and state of health to go along with it.  Not only was I tall, I was very skinny, underweight, to be exact.

Anyway, even as I hated sports, I did what my teachers forced me to do – run all sorts of distances and struggled at high-jump.  I did win some trophies at the school’s Sports Day (I still keep these).  However, once I left school, my running days were left behind as well.  I absolutely find no joy in running – perhaps all that pushing by the teachers made me detest it even more.

I just detest it when people make assumptions based on my physical appearance.

It happened again when I went out to work – now this time, people said:

Wah!  So tall, can be a model!

Now, just what is it with people?!  There were other instances where people commented about what I should be doing, just because I was tall.

But thanks and no thanks! 

I’ll do what I want!

There has been a lack of long and carefully thought out posts here, due to the Olympics.  Yes, blame the Olympics for EVERYTHING!

Not cooking tonight AGAIN?  Where’s my favourite shirt?  What’s with this thick layer of dust?  Run out of underwear?  Not replying emails or returning calls? 

Sorry all, I’ve been busy watching the Olympics ‘live’ at home!

It’s the first time in my entire life that I get to do this – having quit my job last year, and the Olympics being held in Beijing and ‘live’ telecasts being at earthly times!

It’s also gonna be the first time in my entire life that I’m gonna have to deal with a mountain load of laundry that’ll need Olympian effort to clear…