Archive | January, 2014

Thanks Bob Clayton

16 Jan

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The community post-Bob Clayton era seems to be doing well. In fact, thriving and happy. So far there has not been any further deaths after his selfless sacrifice except for my phone.

I was admiring the aquarium with its yet-unnamed inhabitants a few days ago and I thought, “Aww… Aren’t you all so pretty!” and decided to take a picture to capture the prettiness, using my iPhone4.

I don’t know what happened exactly but I recall as I was about to swipe the camera from the locked state (of the phone) into action, it did not kick in. Am I that clumsy? I swiped again. And again no response. Then total darkness on the screen!

Horrors! What have I done?! I tried to press the home button. Blackness. I tried the On/Off button. Again blackness. Trying to maintain an unnatural natural calmness in this predicament, I announced, “My phone died.” to hubby and the girls.

“Yay! Mummy can get a new phone!”

“It died?” “How? What happened?”

Obviously there was concern but nobody came rushing forth to comfort me. M2 offered to fiddle with it but confirmed that it was indeed dead. Oh dear. What am I going to do?

Thank goodness the superhero Google Mum in me surfaced and, using the iPad Mini, managed to find the solution to the problem! The iPhone4 has been rescued and up and running fine since. Phew.

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Kids Nowadays

14 Jan

The Saturday routine has evolved again. M1 signed up for extra classes for Physics and Chemistry and last Saturday, classes began. So we had to ferry her to the tuition centre at an odd time, 5.00pm to 6.30pm. During the one and a half hour duration, instead of just waiting at a nearby coffee shop (going home was too much of a hassle), we decided to do our grocery at Tesco, a short drive away.

At Tesco, when a little chatty girl whined and quickly walked passed us after her ruffled father, M2 commented, “Kids nowadays! They are so bratty!”

“Excuse me? And what are you, may I ask? Are you not a kid?” I looked at her and she merely grinned.

The irony of it, the chastising of another child by my child, who’s still a kid and will only turn 13 come June but thinks like she’s 23 already.

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Not Etched in Stone

13 Jan

Two things I discovered with the new year. Discovery number one: life can go on without Candy Crush. It’s been close to two weeks that I have not played the game at all, can you believe it? And I have been going about life and routine without any hiccups. The candy withdrawal has subsided and I have coped well, especially with the discovery of Nora Roberts online to occupy my time. Proud to say I am maintaining my retired professional candy crusher status.

Discovery number two: life can go on without caffeine. Last week, I did a five day detox and diet program that had me off my coffee and tea, food and sugar. It was all fruits and water for the first two days, followed by fruits, water and some protein and fiber for the next two days and by the last day, a slow introduction of a little bit of carbs, more fruits, water and ending with more protein and fiber. All this while, no coffee or tea, no sugar and no carbs. The cleansing of the innards felt good, the tummy shrank, the need for food was manageable and the dependency on caffeine was overcomed! Proud to say I shed 3kgs.

So things that I thought are etched in stone all this while may not necessarily be so.

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How to Read Harry Potter

10 Jan

As I have been reading my Nora Roberts’ MacGregor series non-stop these few nights, I can’t help but recall the time back in 2011 when the girls started reading J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. I held them off the series but eventually gave in and bought the whole series for them. The treasured books has been read and reread many times over.

Last year, M2 told me she reads the series in two different ways.

How does one read a book in two different ways? Surely, when reading, you read the contents, flip the pages and repeat this process until the end, no? Unless you consider lying down with legs pointing skywards being the other way?

Well, I learnt then there IS another method to read a series of books. First, you read the conversations in the book; just the conversations. In M2’s case, it was all seven of the Harry Porter books in this manner. Then you read the book as a whole—complete in the way they are written—again, all seven in the series. What an interesting method. M2’s mind boggles me sometimes.

I don’t think I will do that as much as I enjoy Nora. My other way of reading is simply just reading the online version instead of the physical paperback, having discovered this alternative recently. So in my case, it’s holding my iPad Mini to enjoy a good read instead of holding the paperback. And no, my legs are not pointing skywards.

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Bob Clayton Dies!

9 Jan

Right after I wrote about Bob Clayton, the unthinkable struck! Bob Clayton has mysteriously died. Noooooo….. The first thing that came to my mind was ‘The new replacements for our little fish tank did it!’ How dare they? Or could it still be the unsettling of the water? The pH balance not right?

We will never know. RIP Bob Clayton.

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Bob Clayton Lives

7 Jan

We bought a new little aquarium recently. Simply because the little space next to the stairs lately has been calling for a little oomph there; so we decided a little fish home instead of another piece of furniture.

And when you have a little fish home, you got to have some little fish in it. So we bought three little albino tiger barbs and a little hypostomus plecostomus (in plain English, a sucker fish). M2 named the barbs Huey, Dewey and Louie. The plecostomus’ name, however, was debated between ‘Bob’ (to follow the other ‘Bobs’ in the pond) and ‘Clayton’ as suggested by M1. Undecided which name it shall be, the girls compromised and hence, Bob Clayton it became.

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Spot Bob!

For some unforeseen reason, Dewey did not lived pass the week and had gone to pet heaven. Then two days later, Louie followed suit, leaving Huey behind. Poor things. Unaware of Louie’s demise, I told the girls when we were out and they asked about Bob. “He’s ok,” I said and the girls sighed in unison, “Bob Clayton lives!”

We have since bought new replacements, yet to be named. Let’s hope they last a little longer.

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Candy Withdrawal

6 Jan

Even since I completed Candy Crush at the end of last year and officially retired from it on January 1st, I feel as though I am experiencing some withdrawal symptoms. For five consecutive days, I have not played the game in Facebook on the laptop; although I still go in to help my fellow candy crushers by sending them lives and tickets, this does not count as playing. Even on the iPad, Dreamworld has lost its appeal. So what I am doing to occupy my time? I have been reading as there’s nothing else to play (besides Zookeeper Battle) before I go to sleep!

The last few nights, I decided to give my favorite author, Nora Roberts, my devotion again and have been reading the MacGregor series online into the wee hours of the night. Now I don’t know if this is good or not because in the mornings, I wake up with a splitting headache from a lack of deep sleep.

As a result, I feel grumpy. And irritated. And tired. Can’t be Nora’s fault since her books are always so captivating. Definitely withdrawal symptoms from lack of candies. Hrmph.

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Being Children

3 Jan

During the holidays, the girls were being children to the core – sleeping late, waking late, eating at odd hours, hogging the computer, being a couch potato in front of the TV and basically, enjoying a stress-free routine. I am not complaining because they were pretty contented.

But now that the school holidays are over, the girls being children has gone back to school. No more sleeping late, no more waking late, no more eating at odd hours, no more hogging the computer, no more a couch potato and basically, back to a stressful routine. I am certainly not complaining because they will be kept pretty busy.

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What an Honor

2 Jan

On the first day of 2014 at 10.42pm (KL time) I hit 5,000 views. What an honor to know that friends, followers and bloggers of the world appreciate my shared thoughts and experiences. For this, I thank you all. Makes me determined to continue with more entertaining entries in order to reach the next milestone.

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A Promising Start

2 Jan

This new year brings many new changes. Firstly, I am proud to announce on the last day of 2013 (December 31st), I completed Level 515 of Candy Crush, the finale of the last possible level in the saga… until an update that is. It’s an achievement of sorts having been addicted to the game the whole of 2013 and starting the new year with a status change. I can now say I am a fully retired professional candy crusher.

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Got to wait for the next update!

But this status will change, of course, once King.com decides to release the update on both Facebook and on the iPad. You know me, die-hard candy crusher to the core.

Change number two: yesterday, I decided to update my iPad Mini to OS7! There’s no turning back at the point so gotta get use to it, ugly as it may be with the icons having gone 2D and flat. I figured if I had managed with my iPhone4 all this while, I should be able to handle my iPad Mini.

Change number three: the girls go back to school today. M1 is now in her final year in high school and M2 has gone on to Secondary school, the equivalent being junior high school. How time flies. It seemed like just yesterday when they were kindie-going and now I have two teenage girls.

I am sure there will be more changes to come and new situations to get used to but for now, these new changes indicate a promising start to the new year.

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