Our latest craze

What have I gotten myself into??  I just wanted to see what this game Restaurant City was about, a game in Facebook that Tai Pi's friend wanted her to play.  I went in yesterday afternoon and before I knew it, I got hooked.  The girls are just as mesmerized and we spent much of yesterday staring at the computer screen cheering on my restaurant workers and visiting friends' restaurants.

I had wanted to let the girls play Restaurant City and other computer games, using it as a carrot to get them to do all their duties and bathe by 7pm and tidy up the place, so I wouldn't have to keep nagging them.  So Tai Pi and Pumpkin finally have their own Facebook accounts, but unfortunately they somehow have not able to access Restaurant City.  We'll keep trying.

In the meantime, I've reached Level 6 and have 4 workers, some nice wallpaper and floor tiles and a couple of awards.  I've named my restaurant "Ku Cafe" which would have been the name of the cafe that my friends and I almost opened in Siglap many years ago; so I do finally operate an eatery, even if it's only a virtual one.

My restaurant is the plain one on the left 

next door to a fancier one on the right

The pleasant cheerful interior of my restaurant

Here I am in jeans and a cool t-shirt and 

hair tied back into a ponytail.  Cute eh?

The sand, the sea, and a little green cup

The girls had their last paper of the mid-year exams this morning so in the afternoon we took off for the beach to celebrate the end of exams (certainly not to celebrate their exam results because as far as those are concerned, we should really be in mourning).

Here we are at our usual spot close to Marine Cove with our goodies from the nearby 7-Eleven store - Cheezels and Corntos and some drinks.  I like lugging our stuff to the beach using this plastic laundry basket (which actually does function as the girls' laundry basket when it isn't having a day off at the beach) as the sand washes off easily with just a bit of hosing down.

The girls and I LOVE the beach, even the non-idyllic ones we have in Singapore.  There's something about the sound of waves lapping against the shore and the gentle sea breeze that makes me feel like I'm on vacation.  I glance at my handphone and notice that the network has switched from Starhub to INDOSAT so now I could even imagine I'm on holiday on some Indonesian island!

The girls were having fun along the seashore as the tide came in and then tragedy struck!  An innocent little green cup, one of a set of cups of different colours that nest inside one another, got mercilessly dragged out to sea by the tide.  This set of cups has been with us for years; I believe it was one of Tai Pi's toys from her infanthood.

The green cup bobbed up and down, all the while crying out for help  - "Save me!  Save me!" (cup's voice courtesy of yours truly to add to the melodrama).  The girls could only watch helplessly as it drifted further and further away from shore.

The unsuspecting green cup in happier times 

(bottom right corner of above picture) 

The girls watching helplessly as the green cup floated away

To bring some closure, Tai Pi created an obituary on the sand - "Green Bucket R.I.P."

When I put Sai Pi to bed, she said to me that the best part of the day was building the sand faces (see below) and the not so good part was "the green cup got washed away by the sea.  I feel very sad because we will never ever see it again."  Well, you never know; maybe someday we just might come across a little green cup washed ashore on the beach, waiting to be reunited with its family and the three little girls who loved it so.

Sand face by Sai Pi.  

Happy childhood memories are made of these.

Black Belt at last!

May 3rd 2009 was a proud day for Tai Pi and Pumpkin.  On that day, they received their black belts in Taekwondo three and a half years after they started out.  There was a ceremony where Master Santos Rivas, the principal of J H Kim Taekwondo presented them with their black belts which have their names embroidered on one end and the name of the school in Korean on the other end.

I'm especially proud of Pumpkin for having persevered when there were times when it seemed she would never go beyond the higher grades.  She had wanted to quit soon after getting the black belt but now she has said that she wants to go for first dan.  Way to go Pumpkin!

More on the girls' journey to black belt here, here, here, here and here.

Tai Pi receives her black belt from Master Santos Rivas

Pumpkin receives her black belt from Master Santos Rivas

The girls and Shiggsel with Master Santos Rivas

The girls in their new black belt uniforms 

 

And God Created Appendix

"Why did God make appendix for?!  Want to kill us ah?!"  screamed Pumpkin.  I was telling her not to do cartwheels immediately after dinner or she might get appendicitis.  This leads her to ask me about god as she is apt to do now and then.

Pumpkin: "Is there a god or people made it up?"

Me: "Some people believe that there really is a god and they don't think they are making it up.  And then there are other people who do not believe that there is a god so they think that god is made up by man.  What do you think?  Do you think there is a god?"

Pumpkin: "No I think people made it up."

"God is real!"  Sai Pi protests.  "My teacher said if you don't believe in Jesus Christ you will go to the Devil."  I see that church kindergarten of hers has been planting ideas in her head.  

Ok back to Pumpkin.  

Me: "Why do you think people make up god for?"

Pumpkin: "To scare people."

Me: "And why would they want to scare people?"  

Pumpkin: "I don't know."

Tai Pi joins in with her two cents worth: "People made up god because long ago there was no science.  Now there is science and science explains everything."  Ah, spoken like a true atheist.

Mummy's little helper

I swear the best sales promoters in Singapore are found at Waterloo Street.  I'm talking about those promoters with microphones strapped on who tirelessly market anything from graters to miracle tonics.  I fell victim to these smooth operators and made a couple of purchases recently - a handheld sewing machine which I'm sure I will find handy some day, and a Shimono vacuum cleaner.

The latter is proving to be an excellent buy.  We have been using it everyday and sometimes even several times a day because it is so compact I keep it in a little box at one corner of the living room so it's really convenient to just whip it out whenever I feel the floor's getting too dusty.  And it comes with a strap so the vacuum cleaner can be carried about easily - genius! Now even Sai Pi can help with cleaning the floor.  Best $70 I spent!

The day Mas Selamat forgot his funky wig

The authorities were closing in on him.  They had narrowed it down to just two places - he was either in Singapore or outside Singapore.  And now 13 months after escaping from the Whitley Detention Centre, terrorist Mas Selamat has finally been captured.  

I showed Sai Pi the good news first thing in the morning yesterday.  Her reaction?  "Aw now I can't see him with his funky hair!" referring to one of the possible disguises Mas Selamat might have used.

Maybe Mas Selamat should have tried the funky afro hair disguise.  Certainly would have fooled me!

The Phua Chu Kang disguise is my favourite

CATS...now and forever!

"How's it going?" I SMS-ed my brother who was over at the AWARE EOGM as an associate member.  "I'm sure this is more entertaining than CATS!  This is worth the $40 I paid to be a member, " came the reply.

While the cat fight (apologies for using this sexist term) was going on at the AWARE EOGM at Suntec City this afternoon, KK and the girls and I were enjoying a catty entertainment of a different sort.  Finally, the girls get to watch CATS live after watching it on DVD a million times.  I had caught it the last time it was in Singapore almost 20 years ago and enjoyed it tremendously.

Because the girls were already big fans, we were buying CATS merchandise at the stand even before the show - a t-shirt for Tai Pi which she wore during the show, key chains for Pumpkin and Sai Pi, a CD featuring the original London cast, and the programme.

The girls watched the show with great anticipation as they were by now so familiar with all the songs and dance moves.  Tai Pi kept turning to me to point out the differences between the stage performance and the DVD version.  I must say that the DVD cast is certainly way better than the stage cast but understandably so as the DVD is a permanent record and the producers would have made sure that only the very best would be cast in each role and of course re-takes are possible in the filming.  But as I keep saying to the girls, watching a live performance has its own enjoyment and excitement that you don't get from watching a DVD.

I do hope that CATS goes on playing forever so that the girls might one day get to bring their own children to catch this most fantastical musical.

All ready for the show

Posing with Rum Tum Tugger

Rabid fans with their CATS merchandise