my ajumma notes

A couple of nights ago, I was stoning in front of the telly since it was the first day of the holidays and also, rain had interrupted the French Open . It was just as well, I suppose, because the last match telecast - and interrupted - was yet another boring Federer match. So, I was channel surfing and chanced upon Rondo and I Have a Date With a Vampire III . Vampire III I watched quite a bit of Vampire I and vaguely heard about a II but, wow, how did they manage to think up another storyline for III ??! Vampire I was so complicated and my brain was really tired following all the switching from past to present to future, living human lives and then reverting to vampires, vampire catchers and other immortal beings (I assume they are immortal because some of these guys have lived for 800 or 1000 years or something) and those mega fights in the skies of Hong Kong. Obviously, the show has quite a following and it must be one of ATV's huge successes. Won't be catching this seri...

Vehicles that irritate the streering wheel off my car In all my driving experience, I've only driven old and/or 'average'-sized cars. I've often wondered what it is about driving a luxury car, taxi or huge vehicle that causes some drivers to behave like they own the road. The other day, due to my momentary indecision on seeing the light change to amber, I slowed down less gradually than I should have. I must stress that I did not stop abruptly, my car did not screech to a halt, I didn't have to slam my brakes, etc. I wasn't going that fast, I just slowed down not so gradually. To my horror, I saw in my mirror the luxury car behind me still going at full speed. The driver had to put some of his special driving skills into use to avoid ramming into the back of my car. He definitely did not look too happy with me and I certainly was not too happy with him. I admit that I should have started slowing down earlier but the thing is I had started slowing down already ...

I read that line some years ago and wondered how many young people actually believed that. Today, during the season of poring over our children's mid-year marks, I still wonder about it. I must admit that it's often hard for me as a parent to think less about grades than I do. We try very hard to keep our 'worries' about grades to ourselves (and our friends) and don't make a big deal about them with the boy. I'm sure we all know in our heart of hearts that each child has his/her own strengths and weaknesses and should therefore be allowed to develop accordingly and that what's more important is his/her overall well-being. However, unfortunately for many Singaporean children (and no doubt children elsewhere in the world too), we are such a grade-obsessed society. The boy has at least 2 friends who get caned for not scoring this or that mark. So sad, huh? In today's 'Which Primary School' supplement, there is this parent who figures she and her hus...

Speaking of 'sway' spurned lovers, the latest one I've come across is in Love Revolution ( only 12 episodes!), a J show I recently watched. Heroine of the story is pretty, 30-ish Smart Doctor, who is dying to fall in love and get married. She meets Aspiring Actor and Broadcast Journalist (right). She falls for Broadcast Journalist like a ton of bricks. It's obvious from the start (to the audience but not to her) that Aspiring Actor is nuts about her. But... she has fallen for Broadcast Journalist like a ton of bricks already. No doubt, Smart Doctor and Broadcast Journalist must be given credit for their love that stands the tests of time, separation and misunderstanding, but the one who loves most in the show is undoubtedly Mr Aspiring Actor. What he does/does not do because of his undying love for Smart Doctor: Y does not pursue her at first because he is still struggling to survive in this small-time drama group and he knows he doesn't have much to offer Y resp...

Now that there's a lull in the K drama scene for me, let me take stock of what I've watched and pass some biased judgement on those shows. Shows watched so far (For most cases, the number of episodes watched roughly tallies with how much I enjoyed the show) Watched fewer than 5 episodes All About Eve (MBC) Winter Sonata (KBS) All In (SBS) Love Story in Harvard (SBS) More than 5, fewer than 10 episodes Memories of Bali (SBS) Dalja's Spring by KBS (liked this but discovered it late in its run) Dae Jang Geum by MBC (interesting but too slow-moving and too long for me) Watched the whole or almost the whole series My Name is Kim Sam-soon (MBC) My Girl (SBS) Full House (KBS) Goong (MBC) Wedding (KBS) Foxy Lady (MBC) The links are to this Korean tourism site which gives synopses along with the filming sites, just in case anyone wants to go on a K drama tour ;-) . My biased conclusions Best network : MBC Most beautiful actress : Choi Ji-woo (from Winter Sonata – peerless, rig...

This is kind of harping on the past, but I thought this article was interesting. In an interview, Hewitt said it was 'a shame' that Kim 'wouldn't have the opportunity to play out her final season'. Exactly what I thought too. "Kim's so well-liked around the world and she's played well in so many tournaments around the world that it would have been nice for her to compete for the rest of the year," said he. Oh well... As an aside, and this has nothing directly to do with Hewitt or Kim, I wonder if Federer and Nadal are getting too stressed with their high rankings and dunno-how-many-matches winning streaks and all. Federer lost his match yesterday, playing uncharacteristically badly (this is not to say his opponent was lousy or anything) and Nadal had to go to the hospital to get his dizziness checked . I also went to the hospital because of dizziness before, and I was told the likely cause was stress... The latest Federer-beater (pic from his c...

The time has finally come. Kim says in the latest entry (6 May) on her website , 'I'll put my rackets in their cupboard'. Here she is in an old picture with Ai Sugiyama, once her doubles partner. (pic from here ) In her entry, she writes about the happy memories she has of her career and, among her Grand Slam and other trophies, what else she treasures: 'The many sportsmanship awards as well, awarded by the players themselves, will keep a special place in my house. They are the nicest one can get as a player.' Yeah, they do say she's one of the nicest players on the tour...

Continuing on the theme of empathy, I'm glad to see the courts practising more of that these days. There was a report earlier in the week about more psychiatric care for 'criminals'. Long overdue but, really, better late than never. If you think about it, people who are in 'normal' situations are less likely to commit crime, so people who commit crime are likely to have had some 'abnormal' or even traumatic life experiences which contributed to their 'criminal' activity. Incidentally, now going back to the homosexuality thing for a bit, I attended a talk many years ago where the speaker cited some stats showing that a significant number of homosexuals had traumatic experiences in their childhood (abuse, neglect, etc). And now coming back to the courts again, the judge's decision in the recent case of the kleptomanic lady seems to me to be a more practical attempt to deal with the 'crime'. However, I read today's Sunday Times article a...

I was appalled that the following sentences in this ST forum letter were allowed to see the light of print: 'Homosexuals lead a promiscuous and hedonistic lifestyle. What else can you expect when you do not have children to live for or be in a loving and committed relationship?' As a Singaporean, I do not like reading or hearing Singaporeans condemning other Singaporeans with broad brush strokes like that. Neither do I like reading or hearing Singaporeans condemning foreigners for what goes on in their societies (read the letter for that part). I'm not part of the pro-gay vanguard, and my views on the issue should be pretty easy to guess, but I still don't like it. Even if one were against homosexuality for whatever reason, one could at least try to regard homosexuals with some empathy, right? How about treating homosexuals as living and breathing fellow-Singaporeans and fellow-human beings? How can we just 'condemn' all homosexuals like that? While there are h...

It's unlikely, as any K drama watcher worth her ( usually her :-) ) salt knows, that one will have to go without K drama for a week because we get a pretty generous dose of it here each week. It appears to have become a staple on Channel U, there are, as far as I know, 3 serials on Channel 55 and, as some of us have happily discovered, we suddenly have access to KBS World, on which we can watch current serials. The last show I blogged about was Wedding , which has ended its run on Channel 55. I think I would have preferred it as a movie. 18 episodes is way too long for going over the same issue (accepting each other’s past) again and again, and not taking up other potential issues (e.g. age gap, socio-economic gap, different expectations, letting go of their own past, etc). Unless, of course, you are a fan of Jang Nara (JNR) or Ryu Shi Won (RSW), or a die-hard romantic (this show is a very mushy love story). JNR is convincing but RSW, who is experienced enough in the field to be c...

I was at Page One the other day and realised that it's much bigger than I thought it was. But that's not really what I'm writing about today. Well, I was there and there was really quite a lot to look at and when I had to leave, this title caught my eye: My Year Without Shopping . Ha! I thought. Who is so wu liao as to write this kind of book? What about 'My Year Without a Bonus/Promotion/Car/Boyfriend/Chocolate/Watch' , etc... Or maybe Bear Hugs and I can team up and write 'Our Week Without Korean Drama' . I mean, is it so easy to come up with a book? Are there hordes of readers out there who are interested in this kind of story? I suppose it can't be that simple, right? Some publisher must want to publish and market your 'Year/Month/Week/Day Without whatever' story. Anyway, this reviewer doesn't find it too bad. I didn't actually look in the book myself. Just the cover, as is my habit... ha ha... I'm sure if I had the time to read...

Starting next week, remember to bring your own bag when shopping on the designated Wednesdays. Aiyoh, surely we can do better than that! What about bringing our own bags as often as possible, whenever we go shopping, all the time, etc? I was rather amused by this comment from the news report: 'Well I guess you would have to remember to bring it all the time. That's one. And I wonder how big it is as it may be a bit inconvenient if you bring it along with you all the time, especially if you're on a bus or on a MRT.' This person makes it sound like it's so difficult to bring your own bag . A bit of shopping planning will not do us harm, and, instead, will prevent us from further harming the environment. Either just bring your big bag on Wednesdays or don't go to the supermarket on Wednesdays, lah! Let me quote this bit from LKY's From Third World to First , also on the environmental theme: (it was about planting 'millions of trees, palms and shrubs')...

I, being a scaredy-cat, am not adding any comments online to the fiery debate about pegs and salaries and such stuff. There are many who have spoken, written and blogged, some rather bravely and eloquently, about whatever can be said about it, so let's just leave it to them. I just want to say that I was struck by the staggering amount earned by those 48 top earners. You can do various permutations with these top people, e.g. include the ministers and everyone else between them and the top 48 (since the ST says that 'even after revision, leaders' annual salary is nowhere near what the top earner in private sector got last year'), or add the top few earners of maybe another 2-3 professions (e.g. doctors, since they are not included in the current peg), etc, and the figure will still be staggering. Then, you factor in what they earn from investing their millions (I doubt they just save their money in a regular POSB account)... wah ... can die ... And this is just from the...

Someone sent me this link . You all take a look at this girl's art. She's so talented. This piece she did at the age of 6 called 'Rainbow River' is so beautiful. I can't 'copy and paste' it so you have to look for it at that link. When I was 6, I think I could just manage stick figures decently. Of course my art never improved very much...

I heard a new hymn yesterday evening ( Holy/Maundy Thursday ) and I just can't help but put some of its lovely words here: I, your Lord and Master, now become your servant. I, who made the moon and stars, will kneel to wash your feet. This is my commandment: to love as I have loved you. Kneel to wash each other's feet as I have done for you. (from As I Have Done for You by Dan Schutte) It was sung so beautifully, too, and made me think of many, many things... Hope those of you who celebrate Easter are having a holy weekend!

Let me use this rather celebratory shot here, though you can't quite see the face of this surely-very-happy nineteen-year-old. Well done, young man! Somehow, he reminds me of Henman - understated, no flasy attire, no histrionics, no racket-flinging, no ranting at umpires and linesmen, etc. Well, I hope this final augurs well for men's tennis. It was getting rather boring, with the same old thing happening again and again in the various finals. ( pic source ) As for these two... er... boys , I shall call them, I don't know what to say. The whole of the TODAY article is here . A summary: 2 S'porean swimmers at the recently concluded World Championship reportedly 'pointed at the "DSQ" (disqualified) listed next to the United States on a television monitor and smiled' at the end of one of the heats. Some reactions: 'We have zero tolerance for mistakes in relays. Why should the boys be smiling when they understand the severity of those mistakes?' ...

I am amazed that this is 2007 and ONJ will be staging her first ever concert in Singapore! We used to listen to her records at my grandma's house when we were kids. Ok, let me see, who else from days of yore has yet to hold their first ever concert in Singapore? Have Billy Joel and Elton John ever performed here? I only remember attending two English language pop/rock concerts. One was the Osmonds' and the other, believe it or not - and much later in life - Paula Abdul's! As someone who grew up watching Donny and Marie show, I thought the Osmond concert was great. I remember reluctantly leaving National Stadium while they were singing 'I Believe' because my dad said we had better leave so that we wouldn't get caught in the human crush at the very end of the show. Anyway, I found out recently that Donny Osmond is still performing ! Incidentally, I used to have this Donny and Marie plastic thermos flask. Some of you will know the kind I'm talking about. They...

Read last week in the ST about Japanese mums outdoing themselves and each other creating interesting bento (lunch box). Checked out the website mentioned in the article. You all go and take a look. The stuff is SO CUTE... and done with carrots, egg, etc, i.e., all edible. Good thing no one expects this kind of creativity from me.

Recently, we were given the stats for the boy’s latest round of tests – the highest score, lowest score stuff. For English, out of 60, the highest score in the class was in the 50s and the lowest was single-digit. First, I imagined how horribly the one(s) with the single-digit mark(s) and parents must have felt. Then, I felt really sorry for the teacher who has work with this bunch of 40 kids with such a range of abilities. And that’s just in one subject. More recently, I was reminded by this article in TODAY about how that’s just one of many things the teacher needs to worry about. Following that article about the system’s expectations of teachers, there were these two letters , one suggesting that teachers should be appraised by students! I really don’t know about this. Imagine the 40 kids rating their teacher. Even if they were 10 years older and more mature, I’m not sure if their ratings should be used. Everyone just expects such different things from school and teachers. If you g...

I read this article in Monday’s ST: ‘Time to stop trying to silence safe sex advice’. The main point was that ‘advice on safe sex should be taught concurrently with the message of abstinence’ . I do agree that young people must know about safe sex, but I don’t agree with how such knowledge is seen as the answer to the teenage sex ‘problem’. Some excerpts from the article and my two cents’ worth. The journalist says: Preaching safe sex to youth does not equal giving them the go-ahead to indulge in wanton romps in the bedroom. Arming someone with the knowledge of how to conduct himself responsibly in one area of his life is simply an act of empowerment. There is no subliminal message advocating premarital sex - unless you choose to interpret it that way. After all, telling someone how to drive safely doesn't mean you're encouraging them to speed recklessly. Wow. Preaching safe sex does not prevent young people from indulging in wanton romps either. In fact, it tells them that the...