Captain Mama's Rice Dumplings

又到了粽子飘香的季节了！

The process of making rice dumplings are painfully tedious.  From washing the leaves, to cutting the meat, braising the mushrooms, chopping the dried prawns, dicing the sugared winter melon, frying the shallots, cleaning the dried chestnuts, .... to bundling them up in a pyamid and finally boiling them for hours.  It is a few days of preparation and hard work.

Every year, mum will go through the trouble to prepare some home-made mama brand rice dumplings for us... as we refuse to eat any rice dumplings bought outside.  There was a period of almost 5 years that I didnt eat any as I was staying in Beijing.  The rice dumplings sold in northern china are totally different and not to my liking.  Without fail for this year too, mum had prepare the rice dumplings, except that it is even more valuable because she literally risk her new eye to make them.

Mum went for cataract surgery about a month ago, though the doc gave the go ahead to cook, she still feels uncomfortable from the steam, heat, irritation from the shallot gas and pressure from bending her head for too long.  Still, she insisted on doing EVERYTHING on her own, refusing any help from us.  I suspect that she thinks I am incapable of cutting the meat or shallot to the exact size needed.    

Captain Mama in action!

She will cover her new eye with a hankie and put on sunglasses for a bit more protection.

This is the face of a dedicated mum, grandma, aunty, sister and wife. She will remember exactly who likes it with more fatty meat or lean meat, who likes it with more chestnuts, who likes to top it with fried shallots and who likes nonya ones instead of the normal "bak" ones...

If you managed to get hold of Captain Mama's rice dumplings, make sure you finish every single molecule of it... for it is priceless. No amount of money can buy you such dedication.
    

Happiest Toddler on the Block

I chanced upon this video last night in youtube while looking for the Happiest Baby on the Block video for Jon and Elyza. Talk about good karma!  This came very very timely... almost like god sent as Kiiron is already displaying the terrible two syndrome. 

Dr Karp's 3 special steps:

1. short phrases - mention what the child wants first then what you want
2. repetitive - say it over and over for 5-10 times
3. echo their energy - this is really difficult it you are outside

During lunch hour we went to NTUC, Kiiron was playing with the slot-coin capsule toy machines (I hate those machines!!! Why are children so attracted to them???) and we need to rush home.  My usual trick is to say bye bye to him and try to walk off, he will follow me 10% of the time but usually he will just ignore.  My second trick is to grab him up and try to make an exit as fast as possible because he will start to scream and cry.  I wonder how long I can do it since he is getting stronger everyday and there will be a day when I can no longer battle him.

Remembering what I saw last night on the video, I quickly put it into practice...

Me: PLAY MACHINE? PLAY MACHINE? PLAY MACHINE? (Imagine really dramatic ok...)
Kiiron: smile and nod head

Me: PLAY MACHINE? PLAY MACHINE? .... (ok, this is difficult... someone is staring!)
Kiiron: continue to smile and nod head

Me: NO MACHINE! NO MACHINE! NO MACHINE! (my voice is starting to quaver....)
Kiiron: blank look

Me: Go find 姨妈. Go find 姨妈. Go find 姨妈. Go find 姨妈. Go find 姨妈... (normal tone as I dont have any energy left)
Kiiron: Walks away from the machine!

Wow! It works!!! Well at least for this time.
It takes a lot of patience and energy to talk like that to him though, almost like the same energy used to grab him and run.
  
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Later on in the evening, I tried it again. This time was to wear his clothes and diaper.  For some strange reasons, he always refuse to wear his clothes and diaper after bathing. It is a chore and a lot of screaming is usually involved.

Me: NO CLOTHES? NO CLOTHES?
Kiiron: Shake head...

Me: NICE CLOTHES! NICE CLOTHES! NICE CLOTHES!
Kiiron: Frown...

Me: YOU WANT TO WEAR! YOU WANT TO WEAR! YOU WANT TO WEAR!
... and I quickly slip on the shirt and diaper (no fussing!)

2nd time lucky again! It seems like it does work if we try to communicate to our tods in their own language.  But somehow there's no satisfication on my part... I got to admit that I'm a big bully! There's the feeling of triumphs when I successfully forced him to do whatever he dont want to!
  

A New Star Is Rising

Kiiron is learning to identify things now and will point and say train when he sees one from the park.  It's been a while since he was last on the MRT, so I brought him for a train ride from Tampines to Pasir Ris.

Waiting for the train on the platform.  Oops! should not be playing ball there...

  

We had lunch at White Sands and after that some shopping.  I saw a toy guitar for sale at Tom and Stefanie. I got it for S$13.55 after discount. Kiiron is facinated with guitars since he saw them at Bini's house and when Bini brought her ukelele to show him last week.

Playing in the mall and while waiting for the train.  Check it out! he is holding the guitar correctly.

Being a budding star can be very tiring... 

Live in action!

Step aside Jay, Leehom and JJ... Kiiron is here!

Baby Blessing

Last Saturday morning, we attended the Baby Blessing Ceremony at 佛光山, together with hundreds of other babies under 5 years old. We went into the hall quite early and I selected a seat at the side so that I could "escape" easily if Kiiron make a fuss. A helper came to me and requested us to move to the front, right in the middle, near the "restricted area"! I think she must have regretted when my hyperactive boy wouldnt sit down and started to run all over the "restricted area" instead. I knew that if I try to stop him, Kiiron would create a scene of scream crying and floor rolling... that would be too much attention in the silent hall. So I left that to the helper and since she is a stranger, Kiiron will give her "some face".

Kiiron having fun at the "restricted area"

Hyperactive boy trying to escape from our seat

Extracts of the Prayer and Wishes for the Baby blessing - written by Venerable Master Hsing Yun

We pray that under your compassionate guidance and protection;

These children are free from harm, and enjoy a healthy body and mind;

Have propitious days and nights, and grow up in peace;

Are intelligent and encounter no learning difficulties;

Are blessed with good fortunes and virtues and are loved by all

Please allow them to possess gratitude in their hearts, so they may cherish the sacrifices others have made;

Allow them to possess the ability to feel ashamed, so they are able to self-reflect;

Allow them to possess the virtue of being able to repay others, and to bring benefit to society;

May they nurture proper beliefs, and hold right views and right thoughts

Please give them confidence and courage, in their times of defect;

Please provide them wisdom and strength, when they are fatigued and exhausted

I felt this can be useful for the me too... in a different context.

Please give them confidence and courage, in their times of defect;

Please provide them wisdom and strength, when they are fatigued and exhausted

Yes, I need confidence and courage when I have to tell him that I cannot buy that toy for him.  I need wisdom and strength to handle a scream crying child rolling on the floor. We need confidence, courage, wisdom and strength to be good parents
  
  

A certificate was given at the end, with his little red thumb print on it

I saw this on one of the walls in the hall and I copied it here to remind myself and anyone reading of the 12 guidelines to practise the preservation of body and mind.  Hopefully everyone would start with beautifying the mind and spirit and then extend outwards to beautify the environment

口中轻声，不制造噪音

Speak quietly - do not disturb others

地上清洁，不乱丢垃圾

Keep the ground clean - do not litter

手里禁烟，不污染空气

Keep the air clean - do not smoke or pollute

身心庄严，不行动粗暴

Respect oneself and others - do not commit any violence

行动礼让，不侵犯他人

Be polite - do not intrude on others

面上微笑，不出现凶相

Smile - do not show others angry expression

口中软语，不出现恶言

Speak kindly - Do not utter abusive words

大家守法，不要求特权

Follow the rules - do not seek exemptions or privileges

人人守纪，不违犯纲常

Mind your actions - do not violate rules of ethics

开支节俭，不任意浪费

Consume conscientiously - do not waste

生活踏实，不空荡虚浮

Be grounded - do not live aimlessly

凡是善心，不孳生歹意

Practise kindness - do not create malice

Happy Vesak Day

Excuse me... are you sleeping on the reserved seat?

Have you read the news about Senior citizen shames young man using social media?

I used to commute a lot on the MRT during my last year in NTU and the first few years when I started working.  My journey was about 1 hr, from Tampines to Boon Lay. That is not near in Singapore terms.  I would try to find a seat at the furthest end of the train so that it is less likely that people in need of the seat will go there.  I also preferred the reserved seat as there is the glass panel to lean against so that my head would not "move" when I sleep.  I admit that I will sian 1/2 when a person in need of the seat appeared, but I will always give up my seat... unless I really konked out, which can really happened when I'm tired.

What I wanted to say is how about all the other abled young people sitting down and not sleeping?  Yes, they may not be sitting on the reserved seat, but that does not mean that they dont have to give up their seat if someone needs it more.  Why is this Mr Wang picking on this young man who is sleeping?  What is the whole row of people sitting down doing? I am sure there is someone who is young and not sleeping.  Mr Wang should pick on that person instead.  I think people who saw this Mr Wang limping in but continue to sit and read newspapers, play games, etc are much worst.

I've met people like that... Army boy playing PSP on reserved seat
    

Get to the root cause... it is not about TPL or GY

Countless of such pages have suddenly sprouted in our Singapore FB community

George Yeo IN, Tin Pei Ling OUT
Petition to remove Tin Pei Ling as a MP
Disqualify Tin Pei Ling as a MP - We want her OUT
I do not want Tin Pei Ling in Parliament
Online petition to replace Tin Pei Ling with George Yeo
...
...
...
  
I did not "LIKE" any of them, not because I didnt agree with them, but I think it would not make any difference. (somebody please prove me wrong! get her out)

Firstly, we all cannot even sing in unison, how do you expect the gahment to hear? there are so many different pages to "LIKE" and each has only tens of thousand of "LIKES". No one will take these seriously. A page with hundreds of thousands could maybe raise a concern though.

Secondly, there are many people with 2 or more FB identity, so gahment can choose to believe that there are just a handful of people creating different identities just to click on these "LIKES". Moreover, it could your "administrator" who clicked it, so to them, that does not count either.

Most importantly, I dont think this will solve the issue with our system. This time we might want TPL out, GY in. Next time we might want XXX in, ZZ out. We need to get to the root cause - the GRC system. The underlying message from all these pages is that we want the best candidate to be MP, regardless of which party they come from. We want the best for Singapore. But the GRC system places the interest of the Party before our nation. There's a need to review this system.

Lastly, I felt that FB is not the correct avenue for such feedback, but sadly there seems to be no other platform. Where can Singaporeans put our sincere suggestion or feedback for the gahment? Is there a website or email that the PM himself will respond too? We dont want those standard and patronizing replies thought up by those scholars, his secretary or personal assistant. Dont tell me Meet-the-MP session, that is useless. Will the gahment really review this? Most of them MPs have been getting free rides for so many years, do you think they will really agree to change that?

It is bad that GY is out. He is a victim of their own system.
  

Victims of Raging Hormones

It is never a good idea to discuss politics with anyone, unlessof course you are an MP and it is ok to be seen shouting, screaming and slaming the table... then again, Singapore MPs don't do that.

During dinner tonight...

T2: Things are so expensive nowadays, I dont think we can survive on a single income. The gahment so do something about the high cost...

T1: (super pro-PAP) That is your problem if you want to maintain your lifestyle, give up your Prada and MiuMiu lah. Dont complain so much, it is not the gahment's problem if you cannot afford things, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH...

me: T1, you should read this... (suddenly thought of this note by Xiaxue.  T1 sounded quite much like this dumb-blonde wannabe and I open the webpage for her on the phone to read)

T1: (after reading...) ASK YOURSELF WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY... GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH GIBBISH
(seriously I cant recall what she said as there was a lot of shouting but she said something about comparing her with a dumb-blonde wannabe, and I should not add that comment that they both loved to make-up, which probably added to the rage)

Ok, perhaps T1 is not so well-informed about this dumb-blonde wannabe who might looked like one due to her serverely bleached hair but she is actually an awarded winning blogger.  What's more, she is pro-PAP, just like T1.

Immediately after T1's outburst, I thought "not again!!!"
Yes... I'm refering to her raging hormones. We've been suffering in silence for years during that few days in the month when she will appear with that super black "everyone owe me money" face.  Yah, you have a bad mood but that does not give you any rights to take it out on others.  This is emotional torturing.

As mature adults, we should all have some form of anger control before turning ourselves into the society.  I am not saying that I dont get out-of-control, I have a super hot temper too but I try my best not to display it unless of course otherwise provoked.  Alright, maybe I had provoked her at the wrong time of the month, otherwise I dont think T1 would explode like that.  Usually I have some check points like "Would I lash out at a new friend that I just know given the situation?" If no, then I wouldnt do that to people I know better, just to be fair to people who stick to me for all these years. 

Dont make yourself a victim of your raging hormones or others the victims of your raging hormones..
Here are some articles and websites that can help

Tame your 'raging hormones' - What you should know to stay in balance
http://www.raginghormones.org/