My last entry on my three games had me stuck but perseverance and determination saw me finally made it pass Level 951 for Candy Crush and Level 748 for Farm Heroes. But Level 375 of Candy Crush Soda has been problematic. Why?
Surely I can overcome. After all, many a time when I hit a snag in any of the three, it takes strategy and patience. But this time… Ugh. Patience has turned to annoyance.
Spring term is ending for M1 soon. How time flies. It seemed like just yesterday when we sent her off at the airport. By the end of next week, she would have officially completed a term at university. But she will not be coming home. It’s too soon as she just left for the Spring term. She will have summer classes instead.
When I went off to university, I started in the Fall semester and by the time summer came around, I came home for a good 16 weeks. However, by my second summer, I took one summer class. Yes, just one – an oil painting class. It was fun. I worked at the bookstore as the in-house designer while also tending to the Counter selling art equipment and supplies, attended classes to paint daily and once a week, went off to the bar with my American ex-room mate for margaritas and buffalo wings. That was my summer.
Well, M1 will not have it so easy like me because she definitely has more classes than I did! But she will be fine and will do okay.
A postcard came from M1. She mailed it on the day of her whale watching excursion. Hubby was taken with her idea of all the activities that she listed especially ‘crabbing’ and gave us the urge.
Well, put it this way, our version of ‘crabbing’ certainly is different from what she has in mind.
Crabs with salted eggs
M1 went whale watching several weeks back! How exciting. When she first saw this weekend activity listed and told us about it, I insisted that she must go. It is a very good experience.
I must say whale watching is on my bucket list of things to see/do. And actually, I have gone whale watching before only that the whale didn’t look like a whale and I didn’t have a whale of a time, pun intended.
It was donkey years back and I was in New Zealand, traveling with a girlfriend from my high school days. For this trip, we did only the South Island and one of the highlights was to Kaikoura. It was touted as THE destination for whale watching. We both decided to go for this experience.
I remember the quaint coastal town was typical of many coastal towns, full of tourist attractions, restaurants and souvenir shops. We had lunch at a seafood restaurant and I had something light while my friend had clam chowder.
After lunch and a stroll along the shops, it was time to head out to see the whales. So exciting! But when we got there, we were told that the waters were too choppy and it was not safe to go out on the boat, furthermore we may not spot any whales. Instead we were given the option to fly in the tiny Fokker 9-seater plane. At an additional cost! Did we have a choice at that point? To come so far and this?
So we climbed into the plane. The pilot was friendly. I remember he climbed up to 150 feet above sea level and doing big circles in the air, trying to spot a giant below. The minute he spotted one, he did an abrupt sharp turn and tried to dip slightly lower so that we could all have a decent view of the whale. But he said we should not go any lower as the engine sound will scare it off and it would go under, rendering his efforts unfruitful then.
It was rather nauseating. Every time, he maneuvered the plane in dizzying little circles, my tummy churned. When I finally did see the whale, it looked more like a four-inch squid than an actual whale!
I was disappointed and semi-nauseous. My friend was disappointed and totally nauseous. With the whale watching experience ending like this, I decided not to strike it off my bucket list yet until I can see the real thing, closer perhaps and at a less nauseating pace.
There’s something wrong with the latest Candy Crush update for the iPad Mini. It is not stable on the device (but okay in Facebook on the laptop). Over the weekend whenever I launch the app on my device, the game appears right at the beginning at Candy Town, Level 1! This has never occurred before.
It is mildly annoying because I have to scroll to get to where I am. And at Level 942, that’s a lot of scrolling to do. What’s even more annoying is when I click on lives sent by friends to use, after my five rounds, it goes back to Candy Town and I have to scroll all over again! Aargh.
King.com had better fix this glitch soon. But luckily, I have completed the episode, Minty Meadow, so I don’t have to deal with this until the next update. I shall play Cookie Crossing on the laptop. Am now at Level 951.
Whenever an app has an update, the game becomes easier to overcome. Like when I was stuck at Level 914 of Candy Crush not too long ago, it took an an app update to make level easier and soon, I was zipping through the levels.
This morning Candy Crush Soda had an update and what do you know? I managed to pass Level 365, likewise for Candy Crush. There was an update yesterday and when I played Level 939, where I have been stuck, I managed and have moved on.
Now if only the same can happen for my Farm Heroes. Have been stuck at Level 748 for sometime now.
It’s exam time this week and the Drama Queen in M2 has surfaced. Bouts of illness has struck and the agony in studying has also surfaced. This reminds me of the time when she sat for her big exam two years ago.
Rewind to two years ago…
Anxious to hear her feedback from the first day’s papers, I called home to check on her. “So how did it go?” I asked.
“It was ok. No, it was awful cos I kept coughing and snort kept coming out,” M2 complained.
“Aww…” my heart sank.
“Then it was so uncomfortable as my cough made me not focused, I almost blacked out,” she went on.
“Oh dear…” I think my heart fell to my feet. “That bad ah?”
“Ya…” she concluded.
Speechless and not expecting such news, I told her to take a hot shower, take some medication for the cough and flu and then rest. Feeling uneasy, I shared the news with the hubby. At this point, I don’t know if it’s the Drama Queen or for real. Am I over reacting? The sudden bout of illness became more evident in the morning of the first exam day. She was fine on Monday and the day before!
So hubby called home again and spoke to M2.
“So how did it go?” his turn to query.
“Ok laa,” she said and went on to say one language paper was easy as questions were familiar; she’d done them before. The other language paper was manageable albeit a bit tough and the Math paper, she didn’t know how to tackle two questions. All in all, it was okay.
This was not how she told me! I’ve been had again by the Drama Queen. Hrmph.
Of late the weather has been very unpredictable. This time of the year, we are supposed to be experiencing hot and dry conditions but no, it has been raining. Yesterday it poured like crazy. Unlike over the weekend, my golf club held its Annual Championship tournament and we had excellent weather.
Weather aside, I think we are charged up from the event, my golf buddies and I plan to play another game this Thursday. But I am worried about the possibility of rain and commented about it, to which my golf buddy said, “Touchwood.”
This brought out a little giggle in me as it made me recall the last time when this word was used…
I cannot remember why but I clearly remembered M1 reaching over and smacking M2’s head lightly.
I glared at her.
“I’m touching wood,” she explained referring to M2’s head being the wood. Such sisterly love.
So now whenever “Touchwood” is mentioned, I feel like smacking my own head in remembrance of the girls’ antic.
The mid-term school holidays are coming up and this will be the first time, if we decide to go somewhere, it is just the three of us.
The last time the family traveled together, prior to M1’s leaving for university, was to Bangkok, Thailand. It is weird to plan now. Where shall we go?
Bangkok? Again? We were just there. Bali? Nah… Been there. Hong Kong? Too hot. London? Certainly not. Singapore? Hmm…
For every destination that comes to mind, M2 would have a comment and we feel incomplete without M1 around. Maybe we should just stay put and enjoy the comforts of home.
A card from M1 came in the mail yesterday. I was surprised and didn’t think that she would write to me because we Skype and WhatsApp just about everyday. It was a Mother’s Day card that my firstborn made for me albeit two weeks late. But does it matter that it came late?
It’s the thought that matters. And when I opened it and read it, I cried.
It moved me beyond words and made me realize I did good. She’s all grown up and appreciates all the goodness that I instilled in her.
Tears are welling up again as I am thinking about it. Sniff…
Angieneering 
Remarks