Pinky's Tots

Revival of the blog....watch this space.

Recently, one of the close family friends declared in the Facebook revoking of the Malaysian citizenship and moved on to Singapore citing the following reasons for the decision:

- Politics in Malaysia
- Increasing crime rate in Malaysia
- Feels more comfortable in Singapore
- Committing future with Singapore

Such events trivial and irrelevant in may seems, but it always trigger massive discussions (150 comments in FB on the status area!!) and one always start to reflect on own positions when faced with such interesting topics which always will be peppered with emotions and sense of nationalism.

Well, I might as well put my thoughts down for record purposes:

• Migration and citizenship I thought are two separate matters. In short, you can choose to live outside Malaysia but remain as citizen.
• Revocation of citizenship requires a far more serious reason than what is being mentioned above. On the first two points, it would be a valid reason to live outside Malaysia BUT not giving up citizenship. Otherwise many Filipinos, Brazilians and South Africans would have left the country for good.
• I thought valid reasons for giving up citizenship can be such as the country is in a war torn situation, massive or acute poverty level, Apartheid or holocaust situations or whenever when lives are in danger.
• In the case of Singapore, I would have accepted reasons such as, wife and children all Singaporeans or the last 2 reasons mentioned above as somewhat 'reasonable' reasons.
• More importantly, both migration and revocation of citizenships are indeed a very personal decision, and there is no right or wrong answer to that. However, what is definitely wrong is trying very hard to prove one's decision is a better one than another person's, as circumstances may differ from one to another, preferences and expectations in how to live life may also differ from to another. In short, one man's meat may be another man's poison.

As for me, I can't say for sure I will definitely live in Malaysia forever and ever. But it is unlikely to revoke my citizenship as:

1. Many of my business contacts and friends that I have built over the years are in Malaysia
2. I would like to give my children a choice to live anywhere in the world but have the options to exercise their rights from their birth nation.
3. I probably will retire in Malaysia
4. Cost of living at this juncture is acceptable
5. Practical about political matters

And no matter what is being said about our government. Well, I for one once experienced a situation where I thought I have lost my passport (I actually misplaced it) in Melbourne. When I called the consular office, they actually waited for me until 7.30pm on a Friday evening, so that they can help me process a temporary travel document to enable me to fly back to KL on the same day. Hence, I must say they do try to help.

Parting words - Reasons to migrate or revocation of citizenship must be more of how good is Singapore rather than how crappy and unworthy is Malaysia to the person. Choice of applying the latter is probably another case of an over enthusiastic converter I am afraid.

I recently attended Itay's talk in Shanghai and was really an inspiring one. It gives an alternative illustration of leadership styles than can be applied in the corporate world. This for one set me thinking on how one's leadership style can actually shape the culture of the firm, which means one wrong step will probably cause millions of dollars ultimately.

Nevertheless, it was one of the best presentation I have attended at least in recent times. Once again, it was simply awesome !

Apparently, I was advised to queue up to apply on behalf of Jeremy the school of choice tomorrow. As long as its a Chinese primary school, the queue is expected to be long. This is so even though the school is so called not 'elite'.

Application is also very strict, in order for the school to verify that you live near the school, one needs to bring some utility bills to show you really lives at the address you declare.

To me, I attribute this phenomenon to the failure of our education system. Other than private schools, the Chinese schools seem to be the only alternative if we want the child to have a sound foundation as they position themselves at the starting line of a long marathon rat race.



Jeremy enjoying himself at a cousin's party. Soon the rat race will begin for him. Too fast,...its just too fast.

We wish everyone a blessed Christmas ahead, as we plan for trips to Singapore and Ipoh over the long year end holidays

Colleagues are putting up bets, drivers talking about the Asians i.e Koreans and Japanese putting up a respectable fight, fathers are hoarding the television set, friends are commenting the individual games in Facebook.........oh man, everyone is talking about it ! - THE WORLD CUP

Anyway, I would like to put two aspects of World Cup for the record. (1) The Past - 5 memorable things I remembered in the Past World Cups (2) The Current and Future - Teams to watch this World Cup

(1) The Past - 5 memorable things I remembered in the Past World Cups

(A) The 1974 World Cup Final - West Germany vs Holland
That was the first time I was introduced to football as a kid. My dad rushed back to watch the first ever live telecast of a World Cup Final match, and I accompanied him and watch the game together. (Alas, how I wish Jeremy would do the same. Currently, he seems NOT interested!!) Gerd Muller aka the Bomber made the historical winning goal for West Germany.

(B) Hand of God (1986)- Maradona and the notorious Hand of God goal. I thought it was one of the biggest referee mistake I ever known!

(C) Sizzling dribble by Maradona (1986) - I remembered I was held in awe when Maradona dazzled through the entire England midfield and defence from the half way mark, and scored the goal single handedly. This I thought was the best goal I have ever seen.

(D) Toni Schumacher's collision (1982) - Ok this is not the Michael we talk about here. I am referring to Toni, the notorious goalkeeper from West Germany who knocked down French defender Patrick Battiston resulting in loss of 2 front teeth and damaged vertebrae. Patrick actually need to receive oxygen on the pitch! It suddenly dawned upon me that people will resort to anything to win !

(E) Ronaldinho's goal against England (2002) - We were at Finnigans watching the game with our English Partner in the firm. I remembered he had to buy us the drinks and looked so dejected when Ronaldinho thundered in a match winning goal from a 35 metre free kick.

(2) The current - Teams to watch

(A) Argentina - Messi will play a pivotal role. With support from Tevez and Mascherano, the squad can be a tournament winning squad.

(B) Spain - They have a midfield squad where Arteta can't even get in. What more can I say.

(C) Portugal - Powered by Ronaldo. They will always be the dark horse.

(D) Brazil - You can never discount Brazil as always

(E) Germany - This young German team has proven themselves to be a force to be reckoned with based on the way they demolished the Socceroos in their first game.

The Tiger year I presume its 'memorable' for our family. Pinky for a start born in 1974, three cycles of Tiget year many moons ago. Likewise, my younger brother was born in 1975 but remains a 'Tiger' as he came out in January before the Chinese New Year.



Anyway, since I have not made any resolutions or wishes when we move into the new decade a month and a half ago, let's do it now !


Resolutions / Wishes

1. Need to spend more time with Jeremy as he approaches 4 years old. I believe this is the beginning of the 'hard part' in parenting. The physical exhaustion from waking up middle of the night to night feed is nothing compared to the challenge of engaging the little ones so that values in life are properly transposed into their personality.



2. Work life balance - The delicate balance between work commitments and time spent at home with family is always a challenge for many middle class professionals in Malaysia. But having said that, we should never lose hope in achieving this ever 'elusive' objective

3. Catching up on reading - Over the years many books were brought but never had a chance to read. So in the year of the 'crouching tiger', I MUST spend sufficient time to complete the novels, autobiographies which i have bought in the last two years.

And anyway on behalf of Pinky and family, we wish everyone a very happy Chinese New Year............and ooops of course Valentines' Day too

For hundreds of years, the white stork in western culture has been used to symbolize the arrival of a baby and this has also used as an explanation for children anticipating the arrival of a new sibling. I remembered once in announcing the birth of a much anticipated child of a colleague of mine, I mistakenly sent a news flash via e-mail to all my colleagues & bosses with a mispelling in the header : "StoCk News". It was embarrasing and hilarious at the same time to see my bosses summoning me on this as they thought it was some tax planning brief that I had recently put together.

Today I can't help but to mourn for the future of Malaysian next generation as today's Bernama headlines read as follows:

"The teaching and learning of science and mathematics in national schools will revert to the Malay language effective 2012. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the teaching and learning of the two subjects in Chinese and Tamil national-type schools would be carried out in their respective mother tongue" - Bernama

I find the rationale used for the change appalling. Let's look at them one by one:

Point #1

"Muhyiddin said monitoring by the ministry last year found that only a small group of teachers were using English language fully in the teaching of science and mathematics.

On the average, the percentage of English usage is between 53 and 58 per cent out of the total time allotted for science and mathematics" - Bernama

COMMENT : In that case, the solution is not scrapping the use of English to teach Maths and Science. The challenge is to train and encourage our teachers to use English thoroughly. Whenever there is a major change ie from Malay to English, there is always inertia to move back to original application ie conduct teaching in BM. Hence, in order to make it effective, we must have the political will and determination to make the change. I must say we have lost the plot !

Point #2

"The gap in achievement between urban and rural schools in science and mathematics was becoming wider when the PPSMI (teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English) was implemented.The command of the English language among students, particularly in the rural areas, was still low making it difficult for them to understand the teaching of mathematics and science in English," Muhyiddin said.

Based on this observation, he said, the government was convinced that science and mathematics must be taught in the language that could be easily understood by the students, namely Bahasa Malaysia in the national schools, Chinese in the national-type Chinese schools and Tamil in the national-type Tamil schools.
" - Bernama

COMMENT : I fail to see the point here. It is expected that additional challenge will be created if subjects are not taught in the mother tounge. But given the depth of literature relating to science and mathematics that are written in BM is relatively light, lack of command of English will actually limit the amount of knowledge that can be gathered by our young ones. Again, granted that the issue is real but the solution is have a separate initiative to strengthen the command of the English language of our rural students. The effect of the reversion of policy will actually serve as a hindrance to our rural students to expand their quest for knowledge notably in the science and mathematics area.

All I can say is that we indeed has moved backward in our education policy. Such reversal in policy will definitely put a dent in our future competitiveness in the increasing competitive global marketplace. We seem to take the easy way out at the expense of long term growth and development of the country.

As for my Jeremy and the sibling on the way, education utopia will remain elusive at the back of such regressive policy. But I refuse to give up hope and will strive to still find the best solution for them becos I certainly for one believe that a good education is the greatest gift as a parent (Not inheritance) can give to them, for education will unlock the key to make a person a better man/lady.

I could not help it despite the economic downturn. After 8 months of 'think....think and think', decided to plunge part of my December bonus on a Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm lens to complement my D80.



Ok, here are some of early shots taken. A couple of comments.

Sharpness - I must say its one of the sharpest primes I have seen. Although its designed to take micro shots, it seems to me it can perform fairly well in terms of colour contrast and sharpness for a normal picture like this. This was taken during the 2008 Christmas season at the Gardens Mid Valley.

1969

(1) Man landed on the moon
(2) Maiden flight for Boeing 747
(3) The year of the Woodstock festival
(4) Richard Nixon becomes President of the United States

.

Brain - Baby Brain nicknamed Mr Magoo (as coined by some relatives!) was born in this fateful year. May 13 was a difficult period in Malaysian history, but Baby Brain was safely tucked away in peaceful Taiping

Pinky - Non existent yet (hehe)











1979

(1) Iran hostage crisis
(2) Star Trek is launched
(3) Invasion of Afganistan by USSR
(4) Visicalc - World's first spreadsheet program (oh yes, I remember this one !)
(5) Brain - Standard 4 trying to adapt to the new school in Johor Bahru
(6) Pinky - Kindergarden

Brain - My family started our life in Johor Bahru where my papa was transferred while he was with Inland Revenue then. It was quite different in lifestyle as JB was relatively much smaller then Penang. The place was vast but very few buildings. Somehow, mosquitoes were more prevalent then the little island in the northwest of Malaysia. In addition, I have to go school on Sunday as the state weekend fell on Fridays and Saturdays! Having said that, JB had a major attraction in the form of Singapore. Given that the exchange rate was RM1.02 to SGD1.00, weekly trips to Singapore has become a norm. But due to unfamiliarity with roads (No GPS then) in Singapore, our movements were restricted to Woodlands, Bukit Timah, Lucky Plaza and Plaza Singapura in Orchard Road. It was only on 1 May 1979, we actually bought a map and went around the island the whole day resulting in 'extension' to our destination choices like Katong and Toa Payoh.

1989

(1) Tiananmen protest in China
(2) End of Cold War
(3) George Bush succeed the US Presidency
(4) I M Pei's pyramidal entrance to the Louvre opens in Paris France
(5) Billy Joel has a new hit - We Didn't Start The Fire (The song kept on ringing in my ears as I was preparing for my History paper A level exams !)
(6) Brain - Struggling with the impending A-Level examinations
(7) Pinky - Counting how many As she is going to get in the then SRP exams

Brain - Much as I was stressed out to perform so as to get the university of choice, life at the junior college in Singapore was indeed memorable. A-levels was the time I took subjects that I loved rather than being succumbed to peer and 'social' pressure. Humanities subjects like Economics, History and English Literature were such 'refreshing' topics as compared to 'stuffy' Physics, Biology and Chemistry.

1999

(1) Opening of Mid Valley Megamall and Petronas Twin Towers
(2) World population hits 6 billion people
(3) Anwar arrested
(4) Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France
(5) Brain working like a dog as a manager in the accounting firm
(6) Pinky considering career change

Brain - 1999 was a period of economic and political uncertainty in Malaysia. Likewise for me careerwise - was toying between career move to a bank or continue with CPA firm with a secondment to Sydney office. Alas, both never happened ! In any case, Pinky and I did heaps of local road travelling ranging from Cherating to Singapore together.

2009

Hmmm......whats ahead.....seems like deja vu as we move into the downward slope of the economic curve again. Anyway, I hope I can spend enough time with my family. Jeremy has grown so fast and with a blink of an eye, he is already 2 1/2 years old. Certainly, I hope I can be as engaging as a father should be to ensure he has a memorable childhood !

An excerpt from Anton Ego in the cartoon movie Ratatouille:

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new."

Malaysian International Gourment Festival aka MIGF apparently has been in KL for the last 8 years. But really, it was a passing event every year until one of my friends reminded me that Pinky and I always go and search for nice restaurants to try out whenever we go overseas and yet when MIGF is in town, we never go and try. Hence, this year I decided out of curiosity, go for at least one of the participating restaurants and see what is to be offered on the dining table.

I dunno why we decided on Pacifica at the Mandarin Oriental - I think it was becos Pinky thought that Emmanuel Stroobant would be in the hotel whipping up a storm ; I guess probably this is one restaurant I am quite familiar with arising from business luncheons I had with some of my biz associates, and experiences so far has been pleasing.

Anyway, what I hope to pen down briefly some observations made in our 'inaugaral' experience with MIGF. OK here goes:

Menu

As usual, the menu is filled with language that is alien to local. Langoustine tortelloni, carrot veloute were words used in the menu. But a further check reveals actually these words literally mean the food content. Eg. Tortelloni means a type of stuffed pasta while Langoustine is lobster. Veloute means a type of sauce.

In any case, given that there were two choices in each course, we decided to choose different selection so that we can try everything.

Appetizer

For appetizer, one can actually choose between (a) Langoustine tortelloni White tomato and artichoke or (b) Carrot velouté and passion fruit Black Perigord truffle
I must say both choices were quite unique offering different experiences. The stuffed pasta dish was very well decorated and each content gave different taste experience to wet the appetite, as it contain very wide range of food ie from carbo based stuff like pasta to seafood like lobster. As for the carrot soup, I think this is one that needs an acquired taste. It reminded me of the cappucino soup I was first exposed to many years back, something not expected in a soup ie milky and full of foam. I loved the soup itself as it brings the best out of the carrot taste. However, I wasn't sure how the passion fruit is likely to enhance the taste. I thought being sour does not seem to blend well to the milky taste of the soup.

Main course

For Pinky, she chose pot roasted Angus beef cheeks and grilled tenderloin, cauliflower strudel and roasted sesame glaze. Pinky asked for medium to well done although I advised her perhaps medium would be a better bet for steaks so that it won't be too dry. Anyway, when it came out and after trying it, it really exceeded my expectation as it was very tender and well cooked. Hence to me, the Angus beef dish is rather memorable! On the other hand, my miso glazed ocean trout ,snake beans, risoni noodles, quail egg and anise jus fell below expectation. For a start, the size of ocean trout is way too small. Pacifica is not a French restaurant as far I remembered, but the size of the fish mirrors those of French cuisine. Nice to look at but does not necessarily fulfill the basic objective ! ie a satisfied meal that does not warrant supper later on.

Dessert Gula Melaka toffee parfait coconut crisp and pomegranate aphrodisiac probably was the hightlight of the evening and easily the best dish this round. The Gula Melaka toffee parfait was something I feel is very different from the norm. Besides, it was prepared such that was not 'overly sweet' which more often than not would have 'overkilled' the positive effects of dessert.

Well, in summary, the food in general was interesting judging based on the name of the dishes and of course the decoration. Taste was above average overall falling short of being 'memorable'. I must admit I was slightly disappointed by the quality. Perhaps this was due to the hype created surrounding MIGF, which I thought have raised my expectations.

In any case, we definitely enjoyed the meal and had an excellent Saturday family evening.

Last week, I had the chance to visit Rio de Janeiro on a working trip. Rio is indeed considered as an 'exotic' destination for ordinary Malaysian like me. However, the journey was a killer. The fastest way to reach there is to take a trip to Paris on a MAS flight, wait four hours to catch a Air France flight to Rio. All in all is a 28 hour ordeal.

Anyway, I will run something on Rio separately. For now, I just want to pen down my observations on the key differences in approach between Air France and MAS. It seems they have taken a different emphasis on what air travel experience should be.

ENTERTAINMENT

MAS is superior in this area. Typical of Asian airlines, passengers are overwhelmed with choices of games and movies. Movies can be categorised into new ones, old favourites, movies from other asian languages and on and on. In addition, you get the wonderful 'jukebox' feature on top of the traditional music available. Jukebox feature allows you to choose the songs u like from different albums and put in one set.

On the other hand, all Air France offered are movies restricted to 8 in numbers and music is 'totally French' only !

SEATS

Both airlines are fairly comparable although MAS has slight advantage over space especially in the legroom area.

FOOD

Both airlines have their own strengths, with each national airline offering their best local food. MAS has their Satay to boast about, while the French paraded their traditional 3 course French meal combined with choice of wines selected by supposedly the World's Best Sommelier in the year 2000. Qualitywise, both are comparable.

The only fine difference is MAS offers both Western and Asian varieties to cater to the diverse taste of its passengers, whereas the proud French will only offer one choice ie French cuisine and thats it (somehow I think this is so 'French')

AIR CREW SERVICES

MAS being a typical Asian airline generally is OK in this area. However, I am also pleasantly surprised by the level of service of the Air France crew, they are just as good as the MAS ones; friendly, clinical and precise.

ONE LAST POINT

This is the first time I come across in many times of air travel, Air France actually have camera probably at the pilot's cockpit where u can see the pilot's view in your personal TV screen. I tried to capture a pic (see below) but was not very clear as I forgot to switch on the 'vibration reduction' feature on my DSLR. bah !

Just for the record, today's national election results mark a watershed moment as Malaysia continues in its nation building journey.

Let's pray that the nation and the citizens are mature enough to handle the changes in the political landscape of the country, at least for the sake of our children :-)

If everything goes well within the backdrop of democracy, it should lead to making the country as a whole stronger and hence create a brighter future for all of us !

Jeremy's first day to school is probably still some years away. But recent stories I hear from my friends and business colleagues with regards to their children's education experience do warrant some concerns:

One of my ex-colleague - He told me his daughter just completed the Standard 1 final semester in an established Kebangsaan school, but the teacher did not finish the syllabus for certain subjects. I am indeed appalled given that this is only in Standard 1 !

A business colleague - She recently told me her son just 'failed' Bahasa Malaysia in Standard 1. Examples of ejaan for a seven year old kid are words like 'menepati'. Wow! I thought I only learnt this word in upper primary. Even the base word ie tepat is not exactly a word I learnt in Standard 1.

Another interesting or rather bizzare story I heard recently was that one day, the son came back and shared what he learnt to his beloved mom. He put to his mom : " What is 2 push 1?". Initially, the mother did not understand. But after much probing, its actually a math question i.e. a literal translation of "dua tolak satu". As you may be aware, math is now taught in English, due to the poor command of the language, the teacher literally 'translated' from bahasa and hence that was how the notorious "two push one" came about. Sigh

One of my other friend tried the Chinese schools. I was told that after the first year, the students will be streamed between the two best classes and 'the rest'. Only students from the two best classes will be given the best attention by the teaching staff while the rest are left to fend on their own. And also, having huge amount of homework is an understatement. My cousin who already had a 9 year old daughter, and he showed me the mandarin syllabus that his daughter went through in Standard 2. Again, the stuff that was shown to me was I thought to be too difficult for a 8 year old child.

I must say sometimes its a 'blessing' I do not have to grapple with this now although eventually I have to face this a couple of years down the road. It is acknowledged that the national schools may not be the best option at the moment but there are challenges as well with regards to the alternatives.

The chinese national schools are natural alternatives but the rote learning method employed in these schoolsI believe is not in line with modern educational techniques which emphasise on proactive learning and combining fun and learning together. Also, I would like my child to do things beyond the traditional schoolwork so that he can have a balanced childhood. Heaps of homework being loaded on him will not help.

Many of my richer kawan-kawan send their child to international schools. The syllabus and teaching techniques seem superior in teory. But I have never felt comfortable about the environment. The kids will only be exposed to friends from the same social class. I myself came from a chinese national primary school and eventually went on to kebangsaan secondary school; while the facilities in these schools are not the best, but what I gained most was to be able to get a glimpse of the 'real world'. In these schools, I have the bright sparks, the school nerds, the pranksters, the naughty ones, the rich ones, the poor ones, the not so poor ones and the sportsmen all put in one single social pot. Exposure to such variety of personalities I believe would equip one better for the real world when they leave school.

So as u can see, its never easy to choose the best for your kids as far as education is concern. Well, I have another few years to think about the matter. Hopefully, by then I can find the ever elusive perfect solution !

Two weeks ago, I was sitting outside the boardroom with one of my lady colleague waiting for our turn to face the 'daunting' Audit Committee members. We chatted quite awhile given that no one seems to have any 'respect' for the poor external auditors time and were made to wait for nearly an hour. Hmmph...so much Malaysian buisiness etiquette ! Anyway so much for the complaints. My colleague actually had a daughter around Jeremy's age too. hence, we were sort of comparing notes on what's life like after the arrival of the 'Little One'. One of the main observations she made was that 'FATHER's life seems to have little change post baby arrival. This is a complete opposite for the Mummy, given that she has the primary caregiver role. The Father ie her hubby continues watch his TV, plays golf on Saturday mornings and life is as usual for the Daddy!

My immediate response was that 'Gee, sounds like Pinky as she always complained that I still watch my TV, play my computer games and seems like business as usual!'

The TRUTH is well....Pinky has a point.....life goes on as usual....nothing has really changed at least on the surface. However, on reflection, subconsciously that is not really the case ! Here are some of the top 3 pointers (not exhaustive list) :

1. Fitness First became a regular haunt
Now that the family has extended, one is actually motivated to stay healthy. Deep down, you know that someone's happiness and future is very much dependent on your ability to stay healthy!...I need to ensure I can work and thus save for his education.....I want to grow old to see Jeremy get married.....I want to make sure I can impart the right values in life to the little one...and the list goes on and on. Hence, a regular workout to the gym becomes a new way of life !

2. Buying things that I would not have bought

I was so satisfied with my Canon Ixus until I realise I get blurred shots everytime I take Jeremy on the move. So suddenly a DSLR becomes something of an utmost importance.

Before I know it, a Nikon D80 became part of the family !

3. Now u know what your parents have gone through

Never have I imagined what kind of sacrifices our parents made for us. I used to hear my mom lamenting...how tough it was to raise us. and yes...nothing beats the actual experience of raising a child to know the challenges and hence the ability to appreciate our own parents more.

This list is not exhaustive, what i have to say as a 18 mth old daddy, whilst the TV and computer games continue to be the way of life, this last 18 months not only make one feels the need to be more responsible and but has actually widened one's horizon on what actually life means, amongst others. ~

I'm being busy with the above lately hence the lack of blog activity in the past couple of weeks. All I can say is that it is an amazing social networking website! I have reconnected with so many friends from primary and secondary school and colleges as well as ex-colleagues. Brain is also hooked on this and we are racing to see who can build a bigger network of friends. If you guys haven't signed up for it - you should!

Haven't had the time to take photos of Jeremy and etc cos Brain has took my camera to Shanghai this week. He will be back today. On the other hand, I will be going off to Shanghai as well to attend a conference in 2 weeks time. So the next couple of weeks will be a busy time for the family.

Updates on Jeremy:
Jeremy's vocab has expanded to a level that even I'm amazed! He can now say - SPECS ( for some reasons it sounded like "sex" - still can't pronounce sp... *lol*), SINK, DIAPER, DA DA (For Daddy. Still calls Mummy - Papi or papu , not sure why), CAR (of course), UMBABA (Umbrella), Dog, Door, Lock, Pic (for picture), Cat, COK (for Brocolli), Plant, Shoes, Socks, Cei (Ceiling), Curtain, window, Thiv (TV), Tig (For Tigger), Pooh Bear, bed, pillow, blanket, ball, fish, chair, carpet.

Weighs - more than 12 kg

Still cruising but can stand independently for a few seconds.

2 days more to go before our much awaited and much needed 3 day break. I always look forward to public holidays especially in Malaysia where we celebrate just about every festival and occassion gazetted by the Government. Concerns about national productivity during these periods are often quietly ignored *lol*.

I understand that the sighting of the moon will take place tonight even though we all know that by following the lunar calendar, there is no way, jose that you will be able to see the moon tonight. Ignorant as I may be, I'm still not quite sure the point of this exercise especially when we all know that the first day of Raya will fall on Saturday, based on the lunar calendar and this has been marked on our Roman calendars. Perhaps someone can enlighten me on this?

Well, this 3-day weekend is also a milestone of all sorts apart from the festival of Aidilfitri which is celebrated by Muslims all over the world. Jeremy's turning 16 months on Sunday, 14 October 2007 while Monday, 15 October 2007 will be our 7th wedding annivesary. We have decided not to mark the occassion this year in KL as we will be going to a couple of Hari Raya open houses held by our friends/colleagues and associates this weekend with Jeremy in tow. One particular open house will certainly delight Jeremy as I was told that there will be clowns, balloons and face painting to entertain the children. Since we will be down in Singapore next weekend, the usual annivesary dinner for 2 will be postponed till then. And for once it will not only be just the 2 of us as Jeremy will be joining us as well for the candlelight dinner *lol*. Can you imagine us trying to entertain and hold the attention of a fidgety toddler at an upscale restaurant? I'm sure the maître d' or the customers will not be amused by his antics.

I haven't quite decided on the venue for the dinner but high on my list is The Prego at Swissotel The Stamford (Fka as The Westin) as I love Italian cuisine and I haven't been there for a long time. The restaurants at Holland Village could be an alternative but I haven't been there for quite sometime as well so I'm not sure about the quality of the meals offered at the selection of restaurants located there. Hey, if anyone of you have any good suggestions out there do let me know!

My last post was about an item starting the letter C therefore I shall continue to write about stuff or ppl or anything that begins with the same letter.