First Interview (6 Nov 09 Friday)

So it has come to a stage in our lives that we need to make an important decision, not the most important one, but enough for us to rack our brains over.

School admission… for a 3-year-old, which is considered late by most HK parents’ standards.

Nursery/preschool/Kindy interviews are a norm in HK, most schools (i.e. the private ones and not government-run) conduct interviews at least a year before the start of the new academic year which starts every Sept. There are some which accept kids on a first come first serve basis, but these schools are few and probably not something I would look into as TJ’s first school.

Actually most local HKers send their kids to school at 2 years of age, not cos it’s a childcare arrangement but cos the parents want their kids to start school that early. Period.

And the craziest thing is that getting into a good reputable kindergarten is of utmost importance cos it would determine the kind of primary school that the kid enters later, and subsequently that will also affect the choice of a secondary school too. Parents here tend to put their kids into ThroughTrain schools, so that they don’t have to worry about finding primary or secondary schools later.

Moreover if parents can afford, they would prefer to send their kids to the numerous International Schools from an early age, as the perception is that these schools are much better than the local schools. Here, anyone can get into an International School, as long as you have the moolahs.

S’poreans aren’t as kiasu as Hkers, and when it comes to education, the system here is not meritocratic like S’pore. My hometown’s system may not be the best (is there ever a best system in the world?), but it still has its merits since  I now have something to compare against.

My criteria for TJ’s first school: Bilingual in English and Putonghua (must say “Putonghua” and not “Chinese” cos to Hkers, Chinese is Cantonese), within budget (there isn’t any govt subsidies in HK if parents choose the private schools, unlike back home in S’pore) , morning session (cos TJ naps in the afternoon for about 2.5h) and that TJ doesn’t spend too much time travelling to and from school.

So we submitted our applications to just 2 schools, one that is within 5 minutes walk from our apartment (Think Int’l) and another a bus ride away (YMCA Kindergarten). I know some parents would send in loads of applications to many schools just cos it’s so hard to get in to the school of one’s choice, and it would be statistically logical to cast your nets wide.

We took TJ to his first interview at Think Int’l and it was a really strange affair. Prior to this, I had asked people and read up on the  forum  but still went in blind. For someone who really likes to be prepared for things, this interview was a headless chicken that ran round and round. It would not be honest of me to say that I wasn’t stressed by the thought of my 25 and a half month-old Neanderthal going thru’ an interview, but I was curious to know what the interview entails.

We waited for about 15 minutes before it was TJ’s turn, and were directed to a table (there were 8 other tables) surrounded by 4 chairs, one of which was occupied by the interviewer/teacher.

First question was “What’s your name?” in Cantonese (*roll eyes*) and obviously TJ wasn’t going to to answer to that. D told her that we speak English to him and she tried the same question again in English and he doesn’t say his name either. Actually he doesn’t say his name at all, even though we tried for the longest time. Once when we asked him that same question, his eyes grew as big as saucers, and his look was like, “Are you guys daft or what? You know my name and you still wanna ask?” Can’t blame the kid.

But he answers to “Who is the handsome boy?” by raising his hand.

Then there were the tasks: Putting the pieces back on the puzzle, stacking the cubes on top of the other, colour matching with shapes and threading beads together.

TJ didn’t put the puzzles pieces back to their original spaces, but inspected each piece and placed them neatly on the puzzle board.

He only stacked 2 out of the 5 cubes and decided it was better to arrange the cubes neatly in a rectangular array.

The colour matching exercise didn’t interest him, and he just placed the shapes neatly (again) on the laminated card, and it was a fluke he placed the green shape on the green square.

As for the beads, now that is one high cognitive exercise that I dunno what is the educational rationale behind it (maybe to check on dexterity and if you have an one-track mind). Anyway, the beads resemble this black Agnes B ring that I have, and I know this cos he picked up the black bead and put it near his ear, something that he always does whenever he picks up my ring. TJ put his hands in the mini basket and rolled the other beads around, toyed a little with the rubber thread and just pushed everything aside thereafter.

The interviewer had demonstrated all the tasks to him before giving him the chance to replicate the actions, but TJ did his own thing and I could sense his boredom cos those stuff aren’t interesting to him. In fact TJ was polite enough to sit through this entire interview without fussing and only showed that he was bored by shaking his legs quite abit and looking at the door each time another kid entered the room with his/her parents.

I wasn’t sure what our roles were during the interview. Do I help TJ? Do I show him how to do each task step by step? Do I keep quiet and let him do his thing? Should I throw the things at the interviewer/teacher and growl at the school Principal? Oh I felt like growling at her when she asked if TJ knows colours. I suppose he does, but I don’t think it is an important knowledge to him.

Anyway D and I didn’t help much, I reckon the interviewer/teacher should  be able to see my son for who he is, and to see the merits of what he does even if it is not done in the standard way. I think any parent can train their kid to do similar tasks at home, and would then ”ace’ the interview. But I’m not that kind of parent, and I will not forcefeed my kid with such insanity either.  

I was thinking during the colour matching task: If I had known he was going to be asked about colours, I should have brought his toy vehicles, cos he recognises which is the GREEN motorcycle and the RED fire engine and the BLUE Thomas.

His boredom wasn’t the only thing that I sensed, D’s stress level was hitting me quite hard and after the interview, D felt awful for his son and I had to reassure my older kid that these tasks are crap and it doesn’t mean anything, and definitely doesn’t determine my son’s intellectual level at this age. Besides this silly exercise that we went through wouldn’t have been necessary back home in S’pore, and since we can’t fight the system here, we just had to do it. And well we wouldn’t know if we would be back home end of next year, and if we don’t return, these are just some of the things that we got to do now.

We wouldn’t know the results of the interview till 2 weeks later, and YMCA would only notify us of any interview next Mar, in other words, if a vacancy comes up cos YMCA kindy is more popular. I told D that if TJ can’t get into any school at 3, then let it be. He can enjoy his childhood abit more. Besides, if we do return to S’pore next year, finding a school for TJ wouldn’t be this hard and stressful. So either way, we shan’t stress our lives over this.

I had this urge to punch someone at the interview, and to prove to the interviewer that my son understands our questions, I asked him the ”handsome” question and he promptly raised his hand with a cheeky smile on his face.

And just before we left, TJ blew kisses at the interviewer, waved and said bye. He had pushed his chair out when he got off the chair, and I called him back, “Please push in your chair.” The boy walked back and did exactly what he was told and followed a very pleased mum out of the room.

Back To Getting The Old Engine Started

After a long long break from school, what with the almost 3 weeks of school closure that led on to the almost 2 months of summer hols, it’s back to work. I had just finished my first week of school, and by Wednesday, I seriously thought there was something wrong with the time. It was going by way too slowly. The first week simply felt like it was taking forever to end.

Now, I am just willing the hours, minutes and seconds to run along till the next break in October. I groan each time I look at the calendar… September will be such a drag especially since there isn’t a single public holiday to take the sting off from the work routine. But on the brighter side of things, money is coming in and that helps.

School’s been ok so far, I supposed more stuff will need to be done as the year progresses, but for now, I am missing spending time with TJ and not going to the pool to maintain my tan. One change I am trying to make is not to procrasinate but to get things done right away. It’s not that I never meet deadlines, but I am trying to finish up whatever it is that I need to do as early as I possibly can, I just want to get rid of it quickly.

Balik Kampung during the first 2 wks of Aug was great, not just for us but the grandparents who become so much more tolerable when a lil’ toddler is around. D and I talked about leaving TJ with my mum and going out in the nights, that didn’t really happen.

Somehow, one of us (mainly me) would be home with the boy, I suppose we just didn’t want to impose on my mum any more than usual. Besides, the boy decided he was “afraid” of the new surroundings and needed us to stay in the room in the dark, us seated on the floor,  him rolling around in his cot, until he fell asleep. By then, I was just too lazy to go out.

But it was great fun catching up with family and friends and the irony is that we think staying away from S’pore actually makes us appreciate Sgp more.  And for now, it’s the easiest option for us, cos if we do come back, there are just far too many issues, some more sensitive than others, to grapple with. Haiz.

I had a little scare earlier this week with my taxes, when IRD sent me the tax assessment for 2008/09. FYI, HK taxes are calculated on a two-year basis (the current year and the projected tax for the next yr which is called the Provisional Tax), quite siong if not for all the current benefits and allowances given by the nice HKSAR govt.

I actually thought that I wouldn’t need to pay much taxes this year, maybe a couple of hundreds, but when I saw the tax assessment bill, it was a five-digit figure sum. D had a look at the details and suggested that I lodged an objection to the tax assessment, which I did. But the next day, IRD actually sent me a cheque to repay me with some moolahs. Both D and I had read the words “tax repayable” as the money that I owed IRD, but to them, it meant money credited, money returned.

I attributed that to God’s grace, this whole money thing, cos about the same time, I was informed by the school’s admin person that they had overpaid me my Jul salary and the amount that I had to return was almost that same 5-figure amount as the tax. Somehow both amounts, the overpayment of my salary & the credited tax amount, cancelled each other out and I am a happier person this weekend.

Which also meant I could now make more concrete plans for our first family hols during that October. And maybe buy a pair of Onizuka Tigers sneakers for myself.

The Attack Of The Swines

The news broke last Thurs around 1pm that all primary schools, preschools, kindys & special schools would be closed for two weeks cos of H1N1. The main reason for this decision was that a local cluster was found in a local secondary school (which has since been closed) and these aren’t imported cases.  This move is said to be mainly political rather than medical, but I think it is better to be cautious than to have one young fatality who was infected while in school.

We have been expecting this for some time, and contingency plans were made especially if EMB decides to close schools just before the exams. Luckily, the kids had completed the Math papers (they only have their Science paper left) that day and they will only be back on the 26 Jun, provided this school closure isn’t extended.

Anyway, I still see many young kids out and about each morning when I am on my way to work. The whole idea of the school closure is to minimise the transmission of H1N1 among children by reducing the opportunities for young children to gather. I understand there are just so many things you can do at home, and for kids, it is harder. At that age, I wouldn’t want to stay at home 24/7 either, it is more fun to hang out with my friends in school. But everyone, especially parents, should take up the social responsibility in view of this unique situation. If the child is sick, see the doc and keep him/her at home for the time being.

I have been back in school everyday to plan work for the kids to do on the e-learning portal during these 2 weeks of unexpected holidays, various meetings and making sure all markings have been done accurately. The last task took up most of my eyes and brain power, rendered me mentally exhausted on on Tuesday.

Fortunately we were given a day-off today, which I basically used to chill as much as possible, while spending waking moments with TJ. I had my very rare 2.5h nap, which I took that coincided with TJ’s mid-morning nap and my helper fed and entertained TJ for a while more until I decided I needed to pee. Yeah, otherwise I would have continued to sleep. LOL

After that, I took TJ to the park to chase down some butterflies, and basically just let him run off some of that toddler energy. It was a hot afternoon, the weeklong thunderstorms had passed, and it was good to get some Vit D. And just before TJ had his 2nd nap, I went to the pool for a swim and read a few pages of Tolkien’s “The Children of Hurin”. Incidentally, I had thought about taking TJ to the pool earlier in the morning, but after reading what happened to my good friend’s daughter at the Sentosa resort, I balked. Besides jostling for space in the small wading pool with inconsiderate  ”Buay Zi Dong” parents & kids aren’t my idea of fun for TJ. I am thinking if I do take him to the pool, it would have to be very early on Tues morning, since the lifeguards close and clean the pool on Monday.

I am hoping this Swiney problem will not worsen, it seems to me that the fear of getting the virus is more scary than actually getting it. So D and I have been praying for good health, especially for TJ. We try to stay away from crowded places, but there is still the need to have some semblance of normal everyday life. We can’t go through this period living in isolation either, and that’s why TJ still attends his weekly playgym class but we scrutinise the parents and their toddlers even more nowadays. If we see anyone with a running nose, TJ will not attend the class.

The stats so far:
171 confirmed H1N1 cases in HK since the 1st case was diagnosed on 1 May
The youngest is a 10-mth-old baby girl.

Daily updates on the Centre for Health Protection (HK)

I Don’t Understand …

why unspeakable horrible things could happen to the defenceless and innocent kids. Each time I hear about babies and kids who die, not cos of illnesses but at the hands of their caregivers, especially their mum or dad, I question, Why such evil, God? Why wasn’t it stopped? Could You not have intervene? Send one of your angels down or something?

But I suppose these are things which I just don’t understand and sometimes, it is easier to not know about such things.  ‘Cos knowing it hurts deep inside, makes me cry and makes my mind paint too vivid a picture of what happened.

I read about Baby P (more information on the Independent and Newsweek) just today. Well actually I saw the facebook page that a friend had invited me to join. I could only read a third of what Baby P went through and just couldn’t continue cos I started tearing, and this explains my current state. Very heavy hearted, I know Baby P is in a better place, and as much as I like to curse and swear at those who caused his death directly and indirectly, it doesn’t improve the situation anyway.

I just feel all kids deserve a chance, not only to do well in life, but do survive and be loved. The basic of needs. Love and Survival. Which is why this peice of information, especially the graphic depiction of every injury and abuse on Baby P, makes it so hard for me to understand why such a thing could happen to a 17-month-old boy. My God, how much pain he had gone thru’.

First thing I did when I got home was to carry TJ and hug him tight. TJ is now the same age as Baby P when he died. And how many more kids out there are going through the same  horrible things. It scares me. Lots.

I can’t watch movies in which babies/toddlers would be hurt, I just can’t do that now. Like the other day, there was this Clive Owen movie (dunno what movie) in which he left this baby on a merry-go-round and walked away, and realised some hitmen were going to shoot that baby. Clive Owen’s character raced back and fired a few shots at the railings to the merry-go-round to make it turn so that the hitmen would not be able to get a clear shot at the baby. I couldn’t take it, I just had to change channels.

I just went into TJ’s room to check if he has kicked his blanket to one side again. And just before I left, I made a promise to my sleeping son, safe in his clean cot, “I will protect you, TJ.”

Overheard…

last Saturday afternoon (eve of Chinese New Year Eve) while eating cheese and kosong roti prata and sipping on iced teh at AMK Hub.

Boy:   Mum, Thursday no school… E-learning Day

Mum: You sure no school? (Repeat many times)

Boy:  Yah, no school… E-learning Day (Also repeat many times)

Mum: But how come I didn’t receive any letter from your school. You sure you are not lying to me? (Voice is slightly raised)

Boy:  No, teacher really says no school. We are using Lead.com for E-Learning Day.

Mum: But we don’t have Internet, how are you going to do e-learning? (Becoming louder and sharper)

Boy:   But we have computer at home what? (With all innocence)

Mum: Yes, we have computer but we don’t have Internet. You need Internet to go to Lead.com and now how to find someone to install Internet? No one working now, how are you going to do your e-learning?

Boy:   ….

Somewhere during that conversation, I had to talk to D about some mindless thing so that I didn’t burst out laughing at this mum and son. D, who was facing the young boy (primary school kid), told me later that he looked embarrassed and kept quiet. Then something else was discussed right after that.

Mum: I forgot to call your teacher about the swimming lessons. Remember to tell your teacher that you know how to swim.

Boy  : I know, but I am not learning how to swim, I am learning lifesaving.

Mum: Yes, but you must still remind your teacher. So lifesaving is like the lifeguard course is it?

Boy: No, I am learning to save lives.

I must say the boy was still polite throughout this exchange with his mum and it was kinda funny to hear how he tried his darnest to make his mum understand. I ended up spending 30 cents on a pack of tissue cos I found it hard to stifle my laughter and didn’t think it was polite to laugh out loud in front of them.

Knee Menisectomy & Chondroplasty

After months of trying to ignore the pain (and willing it to go away), a few TCM massages (which relieved the pain a lil’),  consultations with the orthopaedic surgeon,  physiotherapist, xrays, MRI and finally, the surgery yesterday.

I had the same problem in 2003 and did the same procedure at SGH. At that time, it was just a small lil’ tear on my left knee meniscus and the senior orthopaedic just snipped off the tear. As I did it during the one week school break, I was able to rest at home and not feel guilty about it.

Since D’s company insurance covers specialist consultations, surgery and other medical costs, I decided to see a orthopaedic. Generally the pain isn’t so bad that incapacitates me, but there are good days and bad ones.

Anyway, since insurance covers these kinda treatment, I had to go thru’ a few consultations, an Xray (only shows the bone and not the soft tissues), some physio before the doc can recommend an MRI. So each time I see the doc and go for these things, I just whipped out the insurance medical card and sign my name without paying for anything. This is also the main reason why I decided to have my knee checked here in HK, since someone else will pay for all my treatment.

When I first decided on the orthopaedic surgeon, my first thought is to find someone who can see me in the afternoon and the clinic is easily accessible from home. I didn’t want to make morning appointments since that would disrupt my lessons and make it inconvenient for whoever was planning relief at that time. Moreover I didn’t want to spend too much time on travelling since I want to get home as quick as possible. Fortunately for me, the clinic that I go to at Tsim Tsha Tsui has its inhouse X-Ray and physiotherapists which makes it even more convenient. The only time I had to go elsewhere was to do my MRI, and even then, the diagnostic centre was just further down Nathan Road.

I suppose as a teacher, I do feel guilty to be away from school for too long and paiseh to have to take time-off for things like medical appointments. Cos someone else, whether another colleague or a relief teacher, would have to take over the lessons and usually they would not really teach the topics but to give out worksheets or practice books for my kids to do. And when I return, it’s usually extra load of markings and additional corrections which frankly, I don’t like. 

Usually I see the doc after school, earliest appointment at 4pm. Still there is that ONE and ONLY time (the doc can only see me at that time) when I had to request to leave early at 2pm in order to get to the clinic at 3pm. And even then, all my lessons end by 2pm that day and it was only another hour before dismissal. I reckon it is ok for me to leave right after my lessons and requested for time-off. A certain someone agreed but also added that I should try to arrange for a later timeslot next time. My inner voice was going, “Ok, uhhuh… come on, it’s not like I had any other lessons from 2 to 3pm and there isn’t any other meetings etc after 3pm!!!”

Apparently what I had done wasn’t appreciated. :/ And there was another incident which I would not discuss here lah.

Anyway, this time round, MRI showed a tear in the same knee but did not reveal how bad it was. Doc recommended the same procedure, Knee Menisectomy and Chondroplasty, and he would only know the severity of the tear when he sees it via keyhole surgery.

After checking with the insurance company if I would be covered (but would still have to pay a nominal sum, not sure how much but would be lower now since I decided to do a 3-bedded General Ward instead of the semi-private), the op. was done yesterday.

I had to go to the hospital on Monday evening and check myself in at 7pm. Well, it was hard to leave TJ and D alone at home, and TJ cried a lil’ when I said goodbye to him after shutting the gate. According to D, TJ was quite a good boy that night, didn’t fuss or whine too much, slept just before 9pm and only woke up once ard 2.30am but quickly went back to sleep after that.

Originally my op was scheduled for 7.30am Tuesday morning, but it was postponed to 10.30am. By then I was hungry (had to fast) and sleepy, cos my roomate’s visitors left late the night before, came so early the next morning and talked so loudly the entire time. Anyway, I managed to finish an entire storybook during my stay and dozed a lil’. The nurse finally came to take me to the operating theatre and even then, it was almost 11am. And I had to wait another hour before I was really wheeled into the OT and prepped for the op. During that hour, I fell asleep again and woke up in time to answer some questions. The anaesthetist came to administer the drug via the catheter and told me I would feel some pain up my entire right arm. The only thing I remembered was breathing via the oxygen mask and heard someone waking me up after the procedure was over.

By then, it was close to 1pm when I was wheeled back into my ward and D had waited almost 2 hours. My doc had mentioned the op would take about 20 minutes, but the long waiting time really gave me the opportunity to catch up on my sleep. After surgery, my knee ached more than that time in ‘03,  and the sedatives I had prior to general anaesthesia took a while to wear off making me very sleepy the entire afternoon.

It would be another 4 more hours before I was discharged. My doc came to see me around 2pm and told me the tear was bad and he had to remove the torn meniscus and ‘cos of the tear, there is degeneration in my knee joints and he had to smoothen them. And the number of days I was given for medical leave… 24

And just before I was discharged, I had to see the physiotherapist who taught me how to walk with the ah pek cane, climb up and down the stairs and did some strengthening exercises.

Having slept for so many hours, I actually woke up at 5.30am today and couldn’t go back to sleep. I lazed about till 6.30am, thinking I would doze off but didn’t. Finally I decided I had enough and got up at 7am. So far the knee doesn’t hurt too much, just stiff and sore, and I intend to go back to school this Friday and see how things go. Well actually the other reason to go back on Friday is to purposely walk in front of a certain someone so that this certain someone will know I wasn’t kidding about my knee problem.

Anyway, it will be another week before the start of the Xmas break, and I suppose it would be ok to take it easy in school for this coming week and rest again during the Xmas break.

Cinderfella

The name came up one day when TJ wasn’t in his cooperative mood as I struggled to put on his shoes while the boy struggled to get away.

Before TJ was born, I had my eyes set on getting him his first pair of Adidas or Nikes. I reckon that will make him look both cool and cute. But after reading articles on buying first shoes for one-year-olds, I decided to look for shoes specially made for the young feet. When we were home in Jul, my mum and MIL had given us money as TJ”s 1st b’day gift and reminded us to buy him his first pair of shoes, dunno what is the meaning behind a kid’s first shoes but it’s always good fun to go shopping for TJ.

So I “hunted” around fashion-conscious HK and found “Little Barefeet“. After TJ’s playgym session at The Little Gym, we went to Central and tried to locate the shop. Unlike stores in S’pore which are mainly housed in malls, neighbourhood shopping centres or basically on street level, those in HK can be found anywhere… above ground, underground, factories and high up in some obscure buildings. Good buys are always there, and it pays to be persistent, careful and a good sense of direction. That day, I had forgotten to bring along the map that I had printed and we reckoned we couldn’t go wrong with D’s GPS on his new Blackberry Bold. Unfortunately the hi-tech navigation thing didn’t work on that overcast day, too much cloud cover(???)

Still we managed to find the store, without either D or I getting into any argument . I had intended to just buy ONE pair of shoes for TJ and had already decided on his namesake shoes from Pediped. But the very clever sales lady tempted me with the package deal of HK$499 if I buy two pairs of shoes (which if bought separately would have cost me close to HK$600).

Haiz, if I hadn’t seen anything else I like, I wouldn’t have been tempted but I thought of many reasons… that this was quite a good bargain, TJ would need another more casual pair, the shoes all look so kweeeute. Ok, the truth is I fell for the Psycho-The-Customer 101.

So I chose another pair, Jack and Lily’s Cream/Navy Trainers , and had TJ tried both pairs before deciding on the size. Knowing how these lil’ “Hobbits” outgrow their shoes, I decided on a 12-18 months size for Jack and Lily one (since TJ would most likely wear that more often) and a 18-24 mths size for his brown Tylers.

When I bought the shoes for TJ, he had just learnt to stand while holding onto something. Now, he could kinda walk/stumble holding our hands and these shoes are becoming more useful. Seems to me that he walks better in his Jack and Lily’s Trainers since the size is pretty much close to what he is at this time.

Today, we visited a friend who had just given birth to her pretty lil’ princess. As I carried TJ while looking at the new baby, it kinda made me wonder where did all that time go? I realised that my son is now 14 months old, and all the things that my friend, who is a one-week-old mum, mentioned this afternoon sound so familiar.

And before we left, I put on TJ’s trainers while he was seated on his papa’s lap, and I felt kinda sad that my baby is indeed growing up ‘cos before I know it, my Cinderfella will outgrow these shoes and find the right ones that will define him as a person and allow him to stand on his own two feet. And hopefully by then, D and I would be able to give each other a pat on our back for a job well done and retire happily everafter on some far flung island.

“Mercy”

D’s and my current fav song… now playing on his new Creative Zen X-Fi and my iPod Video.

Singer’s name is Duffy (full name: Aimée Anne Duffy, Welsh singer-songwriter Album: Rockferry) and love the whole retro 60s, 70s grooves.

Waiting For Storm

My Nokia N80 has been acting very weird recently, some of the navigation buttons (down, left, right and “Cancel”) don’t work when I use my keypad. This makes it rather frustrating since I have to slide the phone back to its original position in order to make changes or choose another function. I love my N80, it takes much better photos & videos than most other phones, compared to those in the same generation, and well, I am a Nokia fan. Oh, and I bought this phone in 2006 on D’s birthday, a gift for myself , so it has some kinda value to me.

D did want to get me the iPhone when it first came out, it was tempting and sweet of him, but I stayed loyal to my N80. Afterall I didn’t think the iPhone (the first one) was that great and besides I never buy 1st generation stuff… reckon there will be bugs.

But, but, I am so hoping my N80 will stay alive till this phone is released in HK. It is similar to the iPhone, but I like the techy gadgetry gizmozy look and is just so darn cool. D has been a Blackberry user since I dunno how long ago , from the very first simple straightforward blue one (I always wonder why RIM didn’t call it BLUEberry instead, and maybe if they do release a pink one to break into the cutey lil’ gals market, they should call it STRAWBERRY ) to the latest Bold.

D says Storm will be coming, maybe 1st quarter of 2009.

Oct Break… Chill, Rest, Couple Time

Currently I am on the second last day of my one week Oct break and it’s been a good week of rest and spending time with TJ. And since house chores are taken care of by my helper and knowing that TJ will be well looked after, I get to go to the pool and nap whenever i want to. That’s what hols should be, just total relaxation and not do anything except what is absolutely important.

During those pre-TJ days, D and I would have gone on another trip whenever I have a school break. Come to think of it, our last trip was the climbing trip at Krabi in Dec 06. Haiz, so long ago. In fact, we did consider going on a short trip with TJ during this Oct break, but decided against it. The main reason being $$$. Since I have just started working, best to save up as much as possible and to watch our expenditure. We still want to try to live like only one of us is bringing in the moolahs. Times have changed lah, we are no longer living the yuppies lifestyle lah, and especially during this kinda economic climate, best to have liquidity.

However I am aiming to go on a trip next April break in 2009. That would give us additional time to save up on a longer (better?) trip and well, TJ would be almost 19 months by then and he should be able to eat what we eat during mealtimes. By then, I don’t have to be so particular about cooking his various porridge combinations. Location?!? Thinking of doing a Club Med (everything inclusive, tickets, meals and baby/kids-friendly resorts) again, maybe Kabira Japan or maybe back to Bali or Phuket. See how things go, lots of things may change, but that’s kinda the plan for now.

Besides my two physio sessions scheduled earlier in the week, I tried not to go out too much since going out meant spending money. In fact it was after those two physio sessions that I ended up shopping. But most of the stuff that were bought were for TJ. So it’s his fault, really… Oh, and TJ had to do two expensive jabs (Hep B Booster and final dose of the Pneumoccocal vaccine) which were necessary, so that was ok. Sidetrack a bit. After the first jab (Pneumoccocal) on his left thigh, TJ knew what was going to happen for the second time when I held his tightly. He did cry after both jabs, poor kid, but cheered up once we left the room. Thank God, there was no side effects after the jabs but yes, TJ was more grouchy and tired than usual.

D decided to clear some leave and took Thursday and Friday off. He did some errands on Thursday and I met up with him after lunch to check out some Oakleys at the agent office, which is  a 10-minute walk from our apartment. After that, I went for a swim, thinking that I would also get some tan, but couldn’t cos of the thick clouds which came from nowhere.

I had originally planned to treat D to a couple spa session the next afternoon (was thinking of this or Chuan Spa) after climbing at YMCA. However both of us had just bought a pair of MBT shoes on Wednesday evening, which would have paid for the spa. So it was either this or that, and D reckoned the shoes would be more beneficial in the long run than the spa which was just good for a few hours. The MBT shoes take a while of getting used to, but these are supposed to be good for the legs, feet, knees and posture besides helping to lose weight. After walking around in them for a few hours (we wore them straight out of the shop), D and I found these “force” us to stand straight, that our legs ache more than usual (muscles that we hadn’t used much) and most importantly, the additional height in the soles makes us taller.

Climbing at YMCA was an exciting affair for me, in fact, it was the highlight of the week. I did a quick calculation and realised that I hadn’t climbed in 19 months. The last time I bouldered was when I was 3 months pregnant with TJ, and I stopped climbing when I couldn’t buckle my harness cos the tummy was in the way.

That would explain why I felt so rusty on the holds. I didn’t even dare try those difficult routes which I used to “breeze” through, and did mainly bouldering to warm up and recall the climbing techniques. D was afraid that he would pull his neck/shoulder ligament again and since he hadn’t climbed in a while either, decided not to push himself too much too. We hung around for slightly more than an hour, for awhile it felt like the old times when it was just the two of us. 

Before we left, D belayed me like before while I climbed the easy route. It felt good to be on the wall but at the same time, there is this sadness knowing that things have changed and climbing will now be something that I can do once in a long long while. It’s quite a shame really, since climbing is a very good workout and it’s also a fun group activity but unfortunately our usual climbing kakis are gone now.

Anyway, my muscles are all aching, every single one of them, and this is when I really think the spa session would have been great. Told D just now that we will reschedule it to the Xmas break instead, we could take a few hours off in the afternoon for ourselves while our helper watches over TJ. Luckily for me, D doesn’t mind doing spa stuff with me, which is just great as this gives us something else that we can do together in this stage of our lives (cigar chomping, shots swipping, club hopping days are somewhat over; scuba diving and climbing are on hold).