My kids had got runny nose and thick phlegm since Chinese New Year.   Every couple of weeks we’d have to go back to their padaetrician  for follow-up checks and each time, the doc would prescribe diff medication hoping something finally works.  When none worked, we even resorted to the nearby GP in the hope that he’d get lucky.  But no.  So it’s been 2mths now.  One 3rd of my fridge looks like this…

Finally, last Sunday, as HooiCheng recommended, I took the kids to Hong Yang Hoo a Chinese Sinsei at Beach St.   Guess what, it’s a woman sinsei in her 70s or 80s, can’t really tell.  She “pou” herself till look radiant and walks straight.  :)  She prescribed the following to my sons, 8 little packs of brown and yellow powder for each kid.  To be taken every 3hrs except slumber time; doesn’t matter before or after meals, and to drink like you drink milo.  After 2 days, runny nose no more, phlegm cleared. 

Believe it or not. 

At abt 7pm, Mike’s watching cartoon after his bath.  The rice is cooked, and soup boiling in the kitchen.  The water filter is slowly peeing water into the kettle.  I hear voices at the front door, opens the door, and see David walking in with head down. 

I ask,..  “baby, you have anything to tell mommy?  hmm?”  I smile sweet as i can.  :P 
David looks up, gives a timid smile and looks down as he walks pass me. 
“hey!  baby oi!  nothing to tell me meh?” 
This T kacau2 replies, “Aiyah!  Nothing to say lah.  Results are just results.  They mean nothing.  Just make sure you understand what is being taught by the teacher, enough di.”
Omigosh!  Smiling (and trying to act calm & collected), I followed my son a few steps and asked, “60 kah?  70? which subject?”
Finally, my David turns around and says, “English Science, and Mandarin Science.  100.” 
I’m like, “huh?”  and asked again, “both English Science, and Mandarin Science - 100?”
David nods and smiles.  Whoa.. this kid got style.  Poker face style (shd i be careful? :P).  He so got me there! 

I know, I know.  This is just a school test.  No big deal, but I’m a happy. 

Oh.. here’s a pic of lil Mike’s spelling test we did at home…  The stars, he ask me to draw one.  He is very cute wan.  He will pester me to sit down and read with him every evening (I pulak the lazy one  haha).  I think he wants to compete with the brother.  Well, so long as it’s healthy competition, rite?

Eh.. as I’m typing this and everyone else in the hse is asleep, i keep hearing this “prraak…  prraak…” sound behind me.  Everytime i turn to look, the sound stops.  Then when i start typing, i hear it again..  Seems to be coming from the cupboard or drawers.  Please lah… I hope it’s the sound of lizards mating and not some spider or, horror of all horrors, croakcoaches trying to break loose fr the drawers?!  And I’m not going anywhere near there to find out.  Aiyer.. there it just went again…  “prraak…  prraak…”

I forgot to mention this, but i’ve removed all previous posts containing pictures of me or my kids from this blog.  Only friends will see personal photos thru privacy controlled Facebook.  :)  I’m not trying to advertise for Facebook, but do get an account if you haven’t already.  :P 

Last month, February2008, was a bit strange.  I didn’t write any posts, but the readership (of previous posts) shot up all time high since this site was created a year ago.  Hmm..  Is this something like ppl rushing to buy Elvis’ albums when he erm..  stopped being able to release new albums?  kaka  “dai kat lai si”.

David returned home fr school just now, and i was in the kitchen cooking our dinner.  I heard T said, “tell ur mom what you got for ur exam..”   My heart went preep proop, preep proop!  (Last wk was his 1st assessment (i think it’s jes a prep test) since starting Std1 at an SJK this year.  The syllabus are tough - even to me.  :P  )   Anyways, David came into the kitchen and tells me he got results for 2 of the papers….  (in the background, the fish was getting burnt in the wok but in that heart-stopping moment, i didn’t the least care!)  ….. he got 99% for BM and 100% for Maths.   Yahoo!  I’m not excited abt the Maths results cos it seemed to be a pc of cake for David when i tested him before.  But BM!  No joke, man!  Some of the words i never even heard of!  Can you imagine how worried i was?!  So 99% is to me like winning the lottery.  BUT - i shdn’t get too excited yet.  4more papers we don’t results for yet.  Personally, if you ask me, anything above 80 is good.  But it’s very competitive.  Everyone seem to expect their kids to get 99-100 these days.  Lose 1 or 2 points more than that, and they get very upset.  I wonder if i don’t expect the same of my kids, am I unwittingly making my kid slack behind other kids?  In some cases, not only the parents, but the kids themselves get upset.  Well whatever it is, i keep warning T, NEVER to pressure our sons to do more than what they can do.  I say this bcos i know my kids well, and they are the kind who wants to do well so that they can be proud of themselves.  The type that doesn’t need coaxing to want to do well.  Catch is - putting pressure on kids like my kids can have adverse effects.  So we should instead help them to take things easy.  Something I shdn’t need guidance for.  haha

And now for some COMMERCIAL BREAK (18SX):
Have you ever tried Korean instant noodles?  Whoa!  I recently tried this, and it comes with dried mushrooms, vege, carrot pcs, in spicy flavor.  I add some choy sum and it’s abso-licious!  Only downside is, it’s ~5times the price of our local Cintan Mee or Mamee.  But hor… the packet is abt 1.5 the size of the usual mee and it’s actually udon ie more tai-look.  The soup is very chikek spicy - like spicy miso soup complete with seaweed (or what-u-call that green leafy stuff in miso soups).  And the Udon is oh so whats-that-word?  elastic?  Eat it once in a while - shiok!
 

Oh please!  Don’t be such a sore loser!  You are where you are today because of your own failure to perform.  Now that I am giving someone else (Dan) the chance to help me, and Mary and Indiana…..   just shut up and let Dan do his job in peace.  Your manipulative and sweeping accusations of him, will only condescend yourself.  Not him.  Don’t give me that shit that Mary will be neglected, or Indiana will not be treated well.  Don’t put words in his mouth or twist the beautiful words he’s said. 

Simple question to you:  When you were around, did you do anything for them??!!   Even for Mary who’s been living in the backroom?!   No.  For years (half a century!), she’s been living in the backroom, and today she’s still there - with just a single mattress.  And you - you have a home theater system, king-sized chiropractic bed, air-cond and private phone in your master room!

So:
1)  What give you the right now to criticise Dan?
2)  He hasn’t even had a chance to start doing anything, pls just leave us alone.

I recommend you stand by the side and do something good, something productive, constructive - if you want us to even consider taking you back again in the future.

Think big.  Think for everyone’s good.  Look within yourself for an answer, before attacking or blaming others.  I’m tired of all the noise.  I want peace.  I deserve peace.

David, my 7yr-old, has a tooth ache since last nite.  Around noon, I took him to the Pantai Dental Clinic.  On the way to the clinic, David was still in pain and crying all the way. 

Seeing my son on the patient’s chair, with his mouth wide open, in pain, and at the mercy of the doctor…  reminded me of how helpless I felt during both my childbirths.  Your well-being and/or safety at the hands of the medical officer(s) - people who has no emotional or blood ties with you…

I felt a lump in my throat and tears kept flowing out of my eyes.  The more i wanted to get a grip of myself, the more the tears kept coming…  Yup, this is very me.  Emotional.  All the time, David didn’t stop looking at me.  I know he was looking for comfort and reassurance.  I stupidly say “mommy’s here, doctor’s gonna fix your pain, don’t cry okay, baby..”  - but it was I who had wet eyes and face. 

But the doctor was indeed a good one.  Dr Looi Chee Keong.  He was gentle and mild-tempered.  Very suitable to treat kids.  :)  And he kept explaining to me and David, what he was doing throughout the checking and washing procedure.  Apparently, there’s an infection inside the filling the previous doc (fr somewhere else) did.  So he removed the filling, washed away the goo, and prescribed some antibiotics.  We are to return for follow-up treatment in 2wks. 

When he looked up to talk to me, i think i might have scared him a little, looking so “wrecked”.  Once we left the clinic, I asked David if he was in pain during the treatment.  He tells me no. 

Well… nevermind, it’s good to clean your eyes inside-out once in a while… 

OK, so this is my 1st post in Dec2008.  Already got some scolding for not updating my blog often enough.  Been pretty occupied and hooked with something new lately…  it’s called Facebook.  Haha..  some of you already in it eh?  Florence got me into it ard mid Nov…  caught up with some old frens and found some new/fun frens as well…  did some sharing and send gifts around like crazy…  But this kind of bandwagon is good and “healthy”.  You keep in touch with friends.

OK, the main story to the above title…

I went to QB mall for a haircut, yesterday.  Tried this new saloon called Xtreme Hair Saloon.  The Director hairstylist is pretty good - in the sense that he did exactly what I wanted done (the safe - long layered cut) and did not make any drastic changes without my permission or cut it too short - like many other hairstylists did in most of my saloon visits in Penang. 

One of my bad experiences in the past was when this expensive hairstylist cut my hair chin length when i specifically mentioned shoulder length and must be able to tie-up.  Another one, dyed my hair mahagony red, when i agreed to a violet-blue hilite (that was 10yrs ago, when i was more experimentative).  Apparently, they think they know better, and despite what you asked for, they thought you will like what they decided to do to your hair.  What they forgot or perhaps didn’t learn is, CUSTOMERS ARE ALWAYS RITE!!

Another thing funny to me is… everytime i go to a hair saloon…. any hair saloon…. their standard product-selling line is - “would you like to do this whatever-it-is-popular-at-the-time (like rebonding 3yrs ago, or laser perming last year, or hair dying some yrs ago, or hilites/whatever they call it recently) bcos it is very in now, and everyone is doing it”.   ????   I don’t get it.  Ok, so every one else is getting this done.  And that’s suppose to make me wanna do it too??  Funny they should think so.  I remember 3yrs ago, almost half my dept went to rebond their hair straight.  Recently almost the entire workforce in the Finance dept went to do the laser perm.  It’s like u suddenly walk into the straight hair dept, or laser perm dept….  Is this happening just in Penang, or everywhere else is like that too?  I wonder.

So… this shampoo guy while washing my hair, comments…  “your hair very black hor..”  I thought that was a compliment, but wait… “you are quite fair too..”  No, wait till u hear the rest.   “…why don’t u do some hilite like brown (etc)?  It will soften your features …”  as if that’s not annoying enough…  “everybody does it these days…  it’s very in now…”  and that’s the last straw..  i say.. “No, I like my hair black.  Natural black.”

To me, i don’t the hell care what is trendy now.  So long as i am comfortable with my own do.  Thank you very much.