Globe Trotting on Hold

5 Dec

 

Last week up, the project ran until letter ‘G’ and the work by both girls turned out quite good I must say. Colorful, informative and interesting, I think they learnt a few new things and so did us adults.

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Chile from the eyes of M2

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Denmark by M2

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Spot the failed lion by M2

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M1’s find

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More from M1

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M1’s Finland find

 

 

 

But sensing some reluctance and procrastination along the way, I changed the rules to keep the interest intact. They can have illustrations to accompany the words and way much easier; I believe variations is the only way to keep them busy during the school holidays.

So this week, the alphabets continue but, instead of a country, it is 30 words (for M2) and 50 words (for M1) to search in relation to the alphabet. Both were wide-eyed at the numbers assigned and there were some bargaining to reduce it. We shall see…

With ‘H, I, J, K and L’ lined up, I look forward to learning some new words and seeing some interesting drawings.

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Colorful Chicken!

3 Dec

I was at the hospital several months ago visiting a loved one. And it stretched over to lunchtime and I got hungry. So I decided to visit the cafeteria for some tummy filler otherwise it would be embarrassing to have the tummy growl loudly in front of the patient whilst she had her lunch. Then she’d make me eat her lunch!

People always complain hospital food is not the most palatable. Strange coming from a place that promotes good health and good eating. I must agree with the general public on taste alone but I must say, when I got to the cafeteria, the offering was an array of colors for just one type of meat, it was blinding.

I had choices ranging from red (curry chicken), orange (more curry chicken), mustard yellow (kurma chicken), yellow (tumeric chicken), white (steamed chicken), brown (fried chicken) or dark brown (roasted chicken!) It was literally a rainbow of chicken choices save for purple and blue! Even the fish was not too far off in terms of color offerings! The only green offering was literally the greens-vegetables-with no shades at all.

Unlike M2 who thinks chicken is awesome, I thought the choices were an overkill.

So I debated between shades as it was tough to choose the right shade of chicken to eat. Should I go with something for its taste? Or should I go with the color? What if I just choose something to complement my shirt? Hmm…

In the end, I chose a red chicken and an orange fish just to blend with my Liz Clairborne shirt! Heheheh….

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Same Old, Same Old

2 Dec

The latest Candy Crush update didn’t last very long for me to play on the iPad! This morning I breezed through the remaining levels of Cherry Chateau and now, I have to wait for tickets to move to the next chapter, which can only be played on Facebook, on the laptop, at home. And this will only happen when I leave the office this evening.

It is indeed same old, same old as far as my candy crushing days are concerned. More waiting than playing. Sigh.

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Let’s Eat Something Nice!

29 Nov

Saturday nights are our eat-out nights and it is always a challenge to find something nice to eat. This has become our pattern ever since the extra music classes and busy Saturday chauffeuring duties ended several months ago. And now that the school holidays have started, it is a must to eat out.

“Let’s eat something nice!” M2 enthused.

“Have we ever been to a place that serves food that’s not nice?” Hubby asked.

“Have you ever seen places advertising that they don’t use the freshest products?” He went on.

Put it this way, well, most of our gastronomic experiences have been nice. If it wasn’t, I’d think it’s personal. After all, one man’s meat is another man’s poison.

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Hah! About Time

28 Nov

Last night when we got back from dinner at a friend’s place in the city, I found that Candy Crush finally has the long awaited update for the iPad. Hah! About time, I thought and clicked on it.

Waiting, I mused over the casual dinner, smiling over the remark of the mismatched wine we all had. But does it matter? Food was hearty and delicious, company was great and ambience delightful, one can’t have it any better. Even M1 and M2 enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I suspect both have comatosed over dinner (and dessert) as they were very quiet in the car on the journey home. All in all, it’s a nice change to routine for a weekday.

And speaking of routine, not crushing candies on the laptop was suddenly an acceptable act. Honestly, I was getting tired of waiting for the update and having been stuck at Level 480 for sometime, the lengthy period has made the game lose some of its charm. Plus the fact that I only play it before going to the office and returning home does not help matter.

But oh! They are so smart this time, updating with two chapters instead of typically one! Yay. Maybe there is hope to reignite the challenge in me. Instead of just adding Sugary Shire (which I completed), Cherry Chateau (where I am stuck) has also been included. I guess I don’t have to rely on the laptop so much now until of course, I overcome 480 and come to the end of the Cherry Chateau chapter (Level 485).

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Stuck at 480 for sometime now

So let the crushing of candies continue. About time too, don’t you think?

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Irks Me to No End

26 Nov

Last week, I decided to go buy a replacement pair of golf shoes, having had mine stolen from the recent smash and grab incident. So I went to the mall. The salesman was trying to push various brands to me but I declined because aesthetically, the shoe designs did not appeal to me.

In the end, to save time, I showed him a picture of my lost shoe and said that if available, I’d like to buy the same again, Footjoy’s Greenjoy model. (I had taken a picture when I got the shoes for my birthday in April. Six months down the road, how could I know what happened to me can happen?)

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“Ahh. This is a Greenjoy model,” he exclaimed.

“We used to have it but now, no stock! But I can check for you,” he went on.

Amazing how a sentence can create two differing emotions at the same time. Popular models move very fast I guess. He was very helpful and suggested I leave my mobile for him, and he promised he will call—in two days’ time—whether the model is available or not. Too good to be true, I asked him again if he will call in two days and he reassured me, yes, two days, he will call. Definitely.

Such good service, I thought. Okay, two days is good before I make a decision.

Two days later…

The call never came. Then I happened to be in the neighborhood of a sports superstore and the lure of buying a new pair of shoes was just too tempting. So I checked out the superstore. My Greenjoy was available but one size bigger. Aarrgghhh… The frustration of it irks me; so close yet so far.

In the end, I bought something else that I could be comfy with, and at half the price of the Greenjoy pair, you could say I was happy with the choice.

Yesterday and that’s six days’ later from the word of promise, I finally received a text message from the salesman. It read as such: “Afternoon Angie, this is suresh fr golf house. rdgar”

An incomplete message… eeesh. Irked (again), I messaged him back, saying the message was incomplete and went straight to the point to ask if the shoe was available or not. He replied: “Sorry mistyped. no. stock. with. supplier. tq”

Wow. That sums up the whole thing! Is that a good follow-up after all that reassurance to call? Are the full-stops supposed to emphasize his point? Gee…. why didn’t he just capitalize all the words?

What irks me here is the promise (is this a standard salesman’s talk?) that he will call at a given specific date but never did. And ended the whole experience with just a text message; not even a phone call to soothe an irate (and disappointed) customer. I’m thinking if one cannot live up to the promise, one shouldn’t be making promises. It just leaves a bad impression at the end of the day.

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So Far So Good

25 Nov
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M1 did the Bahamas

The globe trotting project proved to be a hit! We decided that it should be in alphabetical order to make things easier; they just have to choose a country each. The second presentation was with more enthusiasm and even us adults learnt a few new things on the two countries, Bahamas and Belgium.

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Bahamas: a quick glance, thanks to M1

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M2’s contribution on Belgium

Sunday night, I reminded them on the project for the coming weekday and without hesitation, both girls discussed with much interest on the countries they’d like to do. Countries were rattled off… Chile, Canada, Cuba, Djibouti, Denmark, Egypt and until letter ‘N’!! Wow. In my mind, I was thinking, if the project was just 5-days for the weekday (resting on the weekends), this week, we would just end at letter ‘G’ but they went on and beyond that.

Never thought that this could be so engaging for them. Yes, I am pleased.

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Globe Trotting without Leaving

22 Nov

I was catching up with an old friend two days ago. She shared with me how her little boy has grown and how amazed she was at his ability and enthusiasm in learning new things. I thought her little game with him was a brilliant idea!

Then I thought, there’s six weeks of nothing doing for M1 and M2 if I chose to stay put this holidays. A typical day for them would be to wake up late and mess up their meal times, followed by couch potato acts with either the TV, iPod or laptop. Not very productive I must say.

What my friend did was to teach her son, each week, about a country in this world. He would learn the geography and landmarks of that country, and identify the country on the map. The fun part that she instilled upon him during the weekly project was to greet each other in the native language of the country, cook (or eat out) the food of the nation, listen to the songs and so on; basically immerse themselves into the culture and understand the country in question.

Now, if a little boy can do that, why not my two computer savvy girls? We could traverse the world and learn so much more without leaving the country!

So yesterday, I started the project albeit with some modifications for the girls. I reminded them before I left for the office in the morning. But I didn’t want to come across as a nag by calling them, so I messaged them about it. And last night they presented their findings to us. Although hubby was skeptical about it when it was mentioned, I think he was impressed too.

The country in question was Australia and this was what M1 and M2 presented to us.

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M1’s efforts

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More from M1

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M2’s version

 

It would be a daily thing instead of weekly to keep the interest up. Initially, both chose the same country but I think after the first presentation, both decided to choose different countries for the next day. Looking forward to their next effort!

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Not Quite an Addict

21 Nov

Candy Crush has not been updated for the last few weeks and these days, I find myself only playing it on the laptop at home – before heading to the office and when I return home. Somehow this arrangement made me realize I am not quite the addict I thought I was.

Lately I do not play the game at the office on the desktop although I must admit, I had played on my iPad Mini when the game was still playable then. But as I have progressed so far (at Level 476 now in Facebook on the laptop) and the update on the iPad has yet to happen, there’s no candy crushing in the office for awhile. But Zookeeper Battle still occurs… Heheheh.

To say that I will retire from the game are big words and quite a significant status change despite the discovery of not being quite the addict I thought I was. After all, I am a full-time candy crusher, semi-full time golfer and occasional graphic designer. What am I gonna do, addict or not?

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Recovering

19 Nov

Somehow I was sapped of energy last night after the (smash and grab) ordeal that happened, followed by the debate whether to laugh or cry over the matter, especially when the stolen bags were recovered. Thank goodness both girls were being their silly self and entertained us with their bubbly laughter and antics. Even official pet number one, Roo, was soothing.

Nothing but a good night’s sleep to ease and clear the mind. I believe once the car is fixed, the recovery will be complete.

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