my ajumma notes

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. Mother Teresa Caught a short CNA report about how young people in HK become depressed and lonely during 'holidays' like Christmas. Somehow, there is this great need to have a special date with a special person for Christmas. I bristle at the reference to Christmas as a 'holiday'. And I really do not like how romaticised Christmas has become by people who do not understand what Christmas is really about. Have been ruminating quite a bit on various things and one of the themes was the 'first Christmas'. Talk about being lonely. It must have been lonely thinking about the appearance of the angel and being told, out of the blue, that you will bear a child. And it sure must have been lonely to know that you have to be responsible for your future wife and child when you don't fully understand what is going on. ( here ) Yet, Mary and Joseph 'kwai-kwai' just listened to the word...

Carrying on with my best tennis moments for the year... Off tour Carlos Moya's babe There is a picture of Nadal carrying this same little girl but I kind of like better this picture of Juan Monaco carrying her. USO Ha. Nice to see people chummy and not sobbing and spoiling other people's moments. Finals! Top 8 dudes in London Ferrer: Eh, how come you all sabo-ed me! I thought you all said grey, what. All nicely posing with the PM. I think Nadal and Ferrer are the shortest of the lot? That nice little retirement thing for Moya. And just what is Andy Roddick wearing? Davis Cup Oh, Serbia! I watched and cheered Spain winning it in 2009 and 2010 but Serbia winning this year's was special. How special it must have been for Victor Troicki, who joins Verdasco and Ferrer as dudes with Davis Cup magic moments. Though every time I hear his name, I cannot help but think of him and Djokovic doing their 'Gypsy' thing... Year-end entertainment Roger vs Rafa Off-court, no matte...

Tennis 2010 is almost over. Time to assemble some probably-not-front-page-type pictures for my favourite moments of the year. Australian Open Hit for Haiti S o funny and so fun... The Retirement I saw the retirement 'live' but I didn't realise till recently that Murray looked like he was in tears. Monte Carlo 2010 Finally... Nadal breaking his torturous 11-month drought French Open 2010 Then getting his Roland Garros trophy back. Ballkids with the dude of the season Wimbledon 2010 The Championships took place during our hospital days so Wimbledon practically became my staple nightly stoning-in-front-of-the-TV-after-coming-back-from-hospital viewing. Murray and Nieminen bowing to the Queen. Cool, dudes. Isner and Mahut after 3 days together. Nadal : Your plate bigger than my trophy, no? Your hair looks different from on the court, no? Serena : Just smile at the cameras, dude... (nice dress!)

No, not those birds and bees but the PSLE birds and bees. After the Science paper (last paper), the boy happily told me, 'There were no bird beak questions'. I know bird beak questions (beak type - eating habits relationship) are easy for many kids but they are not among the boy's strengths. I also know this kind of 'academic weakness' can be addressed by a good diet of Animal Planet and some amount of drilling. However, for various reasons, we never got round to them. Tsk, tsk, lackadaisical parents. Is this bird carnivorous, herbivorous or omnivorous? Then came the news about the 'bees' cloze passage which, understandably I suppose, caused some to be up in arms, but which I just put down to being one of those things in life that you can't do much about. Don't blame me... For six years, I have known that our attitude towards academic performance is not quite so conventional but I think we have done what we wanted to do: have the boy go through...

One can only imagine the mood in Myanmar. I have lost touch with the few Myanmar nationals I knew in the past so I have no chance to ask them anything. Check out these BBC pictures . Isn't it interesting that the BBC still calls Yangon 'Rangoon'?

Warning: spoilers ahead It is not often that I watch non-TVB Chinese drama but I find myself following what I thought was a mainland serial, Infernal Lover . I thought it was weird that an idol drama guy (Mike He) was in a show with a largely mainland Chinese cast. I found out later that the show was by a Taiwanese and planned as an idol drama! Clever idea, I thought, idol drama in a historical setting (Republican period). In what sounds like quite a story in itself, due to problems with the original female lead and other stuff, they had to re-cast the cast, re-do parts of the story and re-film some of the scenes. And so it looks like what it does now. (Doesn't the other male lead look like Sammul Chan?) As with Royal Embroidery Workshop , I was fascinated by the (female) costumes and sets, and, really, not by the acting. I find mainland acting rather stage-y and staged. Mike He's style is so different. Plus, he had this modern floppy hair look while all the other (forgettabl...

I have no known Peranakan ancestry but I am a fan of Peranakan food and other things. So after another hearty meal with the family at Chilli Padi (at Joo Chiat), the favourite joint of the elders, and where the boy was first introduced to the wonders called bakwan kepeting and ayam buah kelauk, we were inspired to look at HungryGoWhere and, based on its info and recommendations, we went to Dulu Kala at Beauty World Centre. It has been, like, a million years since I last stepped into Beauty World Centre, and, surprise, surprise, those clothes shops are still there! Even the stationery shop at the basement is still there! But now, the place also has a mix of tuition centres and TCM outfits. Never knew that. So, anyhow, since I have no known Peranakan fibres in me, I am not able to say that the food is just like my grandma's or mum's cooking or whatever. The only simple measure I use is whether the food tastes nice to me, ha ha. And I did enjoy the food. The buah keluak ta...

Of late, we have been reading a blog that we used to follow avidly but had somehow lost track of in the passage of time. Then, we thought that the blog probably had a great many words of import in relation to recent goings-on and successfully re-traced it. So, we are once again following it. True enough, there are a great many words of import. Reading current and re-reading old posts, I cannot help but hark back to the days of innocence, the days before the blog even began. Also, I cannot help thinking, again, that this blogger is truly smart and well-read. And writes so well... I don't suppose anyone would really know what I'm talking about if they are reading this but I will not incriminate myself, anyone or anything else, ha ha, so many things are better left unsaid. Though the days of innocence should be worth reminiscing about.

A momentous occasion calls for at least a short post. Well done, both! (understatement) Hope to see more of you! Meanwhile, I am busy, busy, busy...

Who are all these kind people who come up with new templates and stuff? I wouldn't know where/how to start designing my own look.

Life is now moving along towards the PSLE. Or no, should I say life is now still moving from day to day (which is a better perspective to have, given the recent circumstances)? Thankfully, the transitions to 'normalcy' have been manageable and kind to us. Except that, you know, there really isn't such a thing as 'normalcy'... Another life lesson: there is no 'normal'... ... although the lung function test shows that the boy's lungs are practically back to 'normal', which I choose to believe is a miracle...

Over almost two weeks, I have learnt to better understand words and phrases such as 'very sick', 'pray hard', 'exhausted' and 'bone-tired', which I currently am.

Today, not so much about the H1N1 battle but some ranting about hospital etiquette. My sister reminded me that our dad used to have a separate pair of shoes for hospital check-ups or stays. Now, that is making a lot of sense to us. People have very short memories. Wasn't it not so many years ago that they didn't want buses to pick up TTSH staff because of fear of infection? Nowadays, I think people no longer fear getting or spreading infections. Just look at the number of people hanging/walking around the hospital and their behaviour. Many hospitals have common thoroughfares for all and sundry. Like, if you are just going for your eye check-up, you could be walking at the passageway alongside someone who has being going in and out of the ICU (as a visitor). Worse, you could be getting coughed at by that ICU visitor, or you are coughing at him/her. Yet, hardly anyone is using a mask and people in and outside the hospital are coughing and sneezing at, well, all and sundry....

Still 'bearing with' the effects of Tamiflu. GP said there's a list of the side-effects in the leaflet if you want to scare yourself. If not, just bear with any effects if they are not too severe. Happily, effects are not too severe for me. But am often overcome by bouts of sleepiness (not too uncommon for me anyway). The boy is making very, very, very, very small steps in the right direction but still battling the bugs. Another life lesson for us in Singapore: health costs are truly and unimaginably HIGH. In other words, must buy health insurance . Unless you are supremely rich or something.

The boy is almost completing Day 4 in PICU. Poor boy, fighting H1N1 + some fearsome bacteria that has gotten into his lungs. It is no joke seeing your kid sedated and intubated. And here I am stuck at home because I am also down with the flu. Must say that Tamiflu is pretty effective. On me anyway. But I think it's a very strong drug and not something to be taken lightly. This ordeal is hammering home for me a number of life truths. For example, there are more important things in life than what he's going to get for the PSLE (a lesson that had already come a-knocking when some other stuff happened earlier this year), or whether we are going to be able to watch Wimbledon on Starhub (I still don't know the answer), one thing being LIFE itself. Some other things that come to mind now include 'being a good person'. I was very happy to hear recently from his teacher that he thinks the boy is a really good kid and then from my friend who told me that our priest ha...

Must look out for four Asians in a row at tomorrow's men's semi-finals. And no, I won't be one of them... sigh... So nice for my friend A and her family to be sitting in Court Philippe Chatrier tomorrow. And it almost became a waste of their money as they were hoping/expecting to see Federer and Djokovic, aside from cheering for birthday boy Nadal. Plus, well done, Stosur and Schiavone! Who would have thought...

Yay, the French Open has started! Cute picture. The boy on the far left, especially. The boy on the far right somehow looks like Federer, ha ha... (picture from Nadal's website)

Woo hoo! Nice to see both playing each other again. And nice to see Nadal winning again. Special mention to unheralded Rezai, who beat Henin, Jankovic and finally Venus Williams in the final, in her gold outfit. Didn't see her play at all but noted all her victories, with surprise. Moral of the story: hard work does pay (though not always equally)

Remembering my father, one year on... Fr Remi introduced this poem yesterday during Ascension Day mass. Think it reflects my father's world view in some way. One Hundred Years from now (excerpt from 'Within My Power' by Forest Witcraft) One hundred years from now It will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money was in my bank account nor what my clothes looked like. But the world may be a better place because I was important in the life of a child. There was a time when I could remember every detail of the four days during which he was unwell and finally passed away. I realised recently that I can no longer remember every detail and that made me really sad. But I think there's a lot more that's important than remembering every minute of those four days and what I certainly hope is that I, as part of his legacy to the world, am making it a better place. Incidentally, I found out that this Forest Witcraft was a teacher and...

Aiyah, why didn't they choose my brainwave? I found myself agreeing with quite a lot of a letter in yesterday's ST, 'Learning a language: Get priorities right'. Let me quote the best parts of the letter: There are three considerations in learning a language. If a language is to be used as a tool to teach other languages and subjects, that language must be mastered well. If a language is to be used as a means of communication to enhance business opportunities, a simpler level of teaching and learning it will suffice. And if the purpose of a language is to connect a person with his culture and roots, then the decision to learn it should be left to the parents, rather than as a matter of compulsory education policy. I agree! I also agree with his suggestion that secondary school students take a third language 'to reflect Singapore's multicultural society'. But knowing the fixation with grades and top schools, I doubt this idea will popular. Finally, I didn...

I read that reading and writing daily can help keep the brain active and so prevent or delay the onset of dementia. Hopefully, writing one's blog helps there. Back to the topic of Chinese, I have a brainwave, ha ha. If the weighting for Chinese in the PSLE is to be reduced (which, if it happens, had better be well explained with reasons much more substantial than giving children a better shot at getting into top schools), let it be reduced to whatever-it-will-be and then bonus points (and definitely much more than the measley 2 points currently given for good performance in Higher MT) be given to those who get A and better. Actually, I also see there is an argument for similarly reducing the weighting for Science but I guess the Minister for Ed probably doesn't want to go there... So let me keep my thoughts to myself for the moment though I cannot help thinking about it now that the idea of tweaking the PSLE scoring has been broached. After all, there are 'important...