off topic - before and after

i am lucky to have been to china in the last few years for work. the transformation i witnessed is truly astounding. one of the my favourite `side activity' is to take pictures at the same spot over the years so i can see what changed. i recalled reading a news article on beijing that the city map needs updating every 3 months because there are so many new sights and developments completed that changed the cityscape, especially in the pre-olympic years. here are 2 iconic landmarks that helped define the new beijing.


cctv hq building - i literally saw this imposing beauty rise from the grounds up from the 16th floor on my office building opposite this site. it's hard not to stare at it everytime the sight of this building beckons. of course, this building is still unoccupied due to someone's folly of letting off fireworks in an adjoining building late last year. it razed that building into a black shell.

beijing olympic stadium, the bird's nest - nuff' said

circus

the circus came to town last week and we caught it over the weekend. we drove past the circus site on our way home a few times prior, which is just around the corner of where we lived. so, on sunday, we decided it will be a nice change from our `stay-at-home' sunday routine. we walked there; with a haversack of snacks.

the frank gasser's circus olympia that we saw was a slightly watered down version (i think) from what i read about circus olympia. this one is basically a group of travelling circus performers from siberia that is leveraging on the name to draw in the crowd. that said, they are clearly a talented and hardworking bunch. hardworking because most performers also double up as ushers, popcorn sellers, etc. before the show and during intermission. clearly the sign of the times. unlike the good ol' days where the circus is a family treat that most will look forward to and will pack in the crowd; today there are just too many other distractions to draw the crowd into the big tent. there were only about a 150 circus goers in the show we were in.

we enjoyed the 2hr show thoroughly. for weiqimun, this is their first circus; so they had a jolly good time as well. the performers were consumate professionals; they gave their best despite the (small) crowd. mingwei enjoy the fire-eating segment and i personally like the finale, where the `elder' of the circus troop (who's at least 50yrs old and also doubles up as a clown in the earlier segments) entralled the audience by climbing up a 30m high straight pole with a 45kg girl standing balanced on his head. it is hard to imagine, you have to see it to believe it. what strength!

we are unlikely to see another circus in the foreseeable future; that said, we hope the good old traditional circus will be around for a long, long time. they can still elicit smiles from the young and old as they did on sunday, and that can only be a good thing.

downball

Downball, it’s a game that I play with my friends’ the majority of the time. I play it during recess and lunch, that is, when the best walls aren’t taken. The wall we will have to use if that happens is a low wall. It is lousy, because if you hit it too high, it goes on the roof…

Now about Downball, for those of you that aren’t too familiar with it, let me explain. It’s a game that you have to survive in by chucking a ball at everyone. Just kidding, to play it you have to repeatedly hit a Spalding ball or (bouncy ball as my little sister calls it) on to the all mighty and magnificent wall that we always have to dash out to ‘book’ as soon as our teacher dismisses us when the bell rings. As I was saying, if you hit it on the wall, you wait till the ball comes to you after someone else has hit it and you or someone else hits it again. Sounds boring? Well, not if you play it.

Ok, let me tell you the main rules… Well here goes
Firstly, I’ll tell you about the areas
-The Out Area: So, well how should I say it, Ermm well, you just can’t get the ball there. The last person to hit it before it goes out gets on the wall. Oh yeah if the ball goes out, you can serve it from there if you say SOS (Serve Out of Square) or as my friend says it, sauce.
-The In Area: It is the area the ball has to stay in.
Now for the rules
-Double touch: You can’t touch it after you just hit it or you’re out.
-Double bounce: When you hit the ball, it has to bounce only once before it hits the wall or you’re out.
-Fool: After you’ve hit the ball, if it touches the wall before it hits the ground, you’re out.
-Wedge: If it bounces where the floor and the wall meet, it’s a wedge and no one’s out.
-Rebound: If it bounces out and by some miracle it comes back in (without anyone touching it!) It’s a rebound and you have to continue the game.
-Being on the wall: If you stuff up and you’re on the wall and the ball hits you, you’re out. However, if you catch the ball before it bounces off the wall, you’re back to hitting the ball.
Well, that’s it, oh yeah one more thing, you can play the ‘Fools Rally’, you have to win by fooling.
Bye, and have fun!

By Chiew Ming Wei, Shankly

favourite bedtime story

shimun's favourite bedtime story book (for now) is an unlikely book called The Story of Growl. we first read it at the library and she liked it so much that we ended up borrowing it home. it is written by a well-known australian cartoonist and illustrator, judy horacek.
we would cover the story a few times a day without her ever getting bored.
as we are returning the book soon, this is to help her remember this story about a little monster which irritates her neighbours initially with her growls but eventually ended up saving the day.

the little dancer

shimun recently joined her best friend in kinder, catherine, in a dance class. her mum sends her to nunawading every tuesday for this.

here, she's getting ready to leave home for her 2nd lesson, when her elder sis returns from school.

july 18, 2009

apart from some gusty wind around noon, we have a beautiful winter day today.













all pictures: nokia n95

er...you got score or not, ar?

once upon a time, not so long ago (in singapore), my kids will hand us their school report card/progress report with trepidation. it is because that will set the scene for the next 6 months of their lives. whether life is good or otherwise will hinge on what's in the progress report. before you conclude that we are sadist that deprive growing children on their (computer) playtime [admittedly, we do cut down on their itouch games, ps2, gameboy, wii, psp or ds lite time (yes, we have the lots and we are working on the 360 and ps3) during the school holidays if they fell short of our expectations], like it or not, we parents have been conditioned since time immemorial that we measure our children's progress in school by how many band 1s or a1s obtained. the first thing most parent zoomed in is the exam marks. all else is immaterial. and the narratives are unimportant. i received my numerous 1 liner `can be improved' remarks from my teachers when i was young. i often wondered, "improve what ah?"
in singapore, i do know of some people who use their children's progress report as bragging rights. it becomes an intense topic of discussion and rank as high as `what car do you drive?', `this holiday going where?' and `psf, how much?' during lunch breaks. i just make sure i have a mouthful of food and chew slowly everytime such topics surface.
our 2 older kids finished their semester 1 recently. when we were (shockingly) told by the school principal earlier this year that the school doesn't have text books for the kids in school; we were more prepared this time round. still, when we received an a4 envelope of 8 page print-out each of shankly and paisley's progress report, we were pleasantly surprised by the content.
for starter, we couldn't find the exam mark or grade. of course, the kids never have exams. life couldn't have better for them. when paisley excitedly insist that i read her semester 1 progress report, i sense that something is amiss. she was never that enthusiastic about me reading her school report card in singapore. same with the boy.
instead, only grading, or rating as they called it were given on. beside being graded on the core learning subjects like english, maths and science(for shankly); equal emphasis were given on interpersonal development, thinking processes, phys ed, performing arts and creativity, amongst others. and supporting each of this rating is a thorough assessment given by the teachers on how they have performed, areas for improvement and what they have done well. for us parents, it is no longer a situation where we judge summarily if our children have done well through the score of the examination papers they took. in fact, i took a long time to read, reread and understand what is written and it has given me an appreciative view on the education our children are receiving. equally impressive is that the students' view were captured in this progress report. they have their say on what they like or dislike about the school, the challenges they relish or the difficulties they encountered. done over time, this will reinforce the students' ability to think and articulate their thoughts. and lastly, parents too have a say in this. we are encourage to pen our thoughts on what we read and pass back written comments to them. a face-to-face parent-teacher meeting will conclude the semester's progress report.
we were initially worried if our kids will lose that `study smart' competitive edge. i am sure they will not fare well in the singapore education system now, even if only 6 months out of that system. admittedly, singapore's education system has its strengths; but that said, i am personally convinced that it is the right decision to pull them out and embrace a more well rounded education system here. children's education here is more holistic than just emphasize on academic excellence. i realized that singapore's education system is evolving in this direction, but we can't wait. paisley will be a mother of 2 and i, grand-dad when that happens.
and for a change, i no longer can be `blackmailed' into `rewards' for `scoring' in an exam. that part is the gravy....

july 16, 2009

for some of us, it was a meaningful day today.

shimun went to her classmate's birthday party this afternoon and had a blast.

mingwei was in a school excursion today visiting the famed melbourne cricket ground (mcg). of course, the mcg is a sacred place to most sports mad melbournian. he too had a blast trying a game of cricket with his schoolmates. i have always wanted to visit the mcg and never had the chance yet. so the boy topped me on this on 2 counts; he's been there and played a game there. for the latter, it is something i will probably never have the chance to experience.

that said, things went well for me too. i went for my first cycling ride, albeit a short one. having chatted with a colleague on riding together for the past month, i decided to walk the talk and dusted off my bicycle today. we decided a short, easy off-road trail ride. having been off the bike for a good few months, i was a little worried about my conditioning and stamina, and my triathlete riding partner added to the pressure. my mountain bike was not in a good shape, so i brought my dahon p8 for the ride. we started off just before dusk at high street, glen waverley. the temperature was a chilly 10 degrees celcius. the bike trail was fantastic; we passed by numerous parks, farm lands and other scenic places. definitely a part of the neighbourhood i need to explore more. if you can overlook the runny nose, painful ears, dry throat and being left for dead in 2 mini hill climbs, it was actually a very gratifying ride for me. nothing like getting started to get that riding bug again. we finished about 19km in under an hour. once back, i was treated to his wife's home-made nasi lemak to round things off.

lastly, i received my much anticipated ticket to the australian masters via registered post today. the big deal of this is of course tiger woods will be playing here in november. mine's a 6 days ground pass, so i will experience what chasing the tiger is all about this november.

victoria celebrates mini's 50th birthday

the mini turned 50 this year. while the main gig took place in silverstone, england a couple of months ago; victoria took turn to honor the mini celebration with a 2 day exhibition in melbourne showgrounds to bring like-minded people together this weekend for some serious indulgence and celebration. this event was organized by the victorian mini club (inc).

this event makes a great family outing. there is the usual `best dress' competition where visitors will vote for the best mini on display; there are also many other activities like mini rc race, mini souvenirs for collectors, mini techies to exchange notes about carburettors and radiators and so on.

i was there with paisley.

minis of all variation and configuration are there to be admired. from the powerful to the quirky, it's amazing how the first mini that rolled out in 1959 has evolved into such a following that is almost unimagineable today. i marveled at the length to which the mini owners take to customize their mini. to me, each mini has its own story to tell.

my first car was a mini. it is a '77 mini 1000 special. i bought it in 1992 and had for 2.5 years before i traded it for something else. i enjoyed it immensely and even took it to malacca once. i also remember getting stopped by traffic police in singapore more than once who (then) asked me to open up the bonnet to check if i `mod' my ride. my then-manager at work, irene kee, christened my mini `mary jane' after i gave her a ride back to the office after a customer visit. the mini unfortunately is not a practical daily car in singapore. i sold it with a heavy heart but it has always a place in my heart.

i next encountered the (new) mini when i went to new zealand for work for a few days. the company had a high end mini cooper s to move around town. as it is a `looker', it turned heads and therefore created a lot of awareness for the company. i was smitten by it and when i went to auckland for a week's holiday with my wife and shimun the next year, i was able to borrow it. i travelled around north island with the mini and returned the car with 3 speeding tickets after.

settling here in melbourne allow me to rekindle my love affair with the mini. as cars are generally more affordable here, i am lucky enough to be able to consider the mini (again) for my ride. i got hold of the `06 r53 cooper s in feb 09 after tossing between that and the latest r56.

we enjoyed the show throughly. especially for me, it is like a kid in a candy store. paisley & i spoke briefly about passing on mary jane II to her and her brother years from now. as a beetle fan, she's not too excited at the prospect. however, i think i got time on my side.

(clockwise from left) me with mary jane; my short love affair in nz and now with mary jane II

'

melbourne-adelaide-melbourne

we decided rather late to take advantage of the victoria school holiday to visit my cousin and his family who live in adelaide. the fact that his parents are there made it doubly meaningful since i have close ties with them; having lived with them in singapore for a number of years when i was schooling there. it is a short trip as we are at the tail end of the school holiday and as i just got back from overseas prior. my cousin in adelaide helped with the planning bit and we were off on thursday at 6am sharp.

we relied on the gps for optimal time efficiency. point-to-point, from my place to my cousin's place in adelaide, the distance is a (daunting) 759km as i found out.

on the way to adelaide, my better half took control of the wheel with gusto. she has never driven interstate before. for some reason, i was a little jaded that day, and she covered a good 3/5 of the total journey.

the journey took about 10 hours with stops. we saw a fair bit of the spectacular view at dawn and also during the journey. seeing the countryside is a refreshing change from the usual brick and mortar we are used to.

halfway thru' when we reached border town (the town that literally borders victoria and south australia), shankly got carsick. we stopped by a pharmacy for some panadol; and after an unispiring chinese meal there, he took refuge at the public library for some rest before resuming.
meanwhile, the youngest one took the time to do some coloring at the bordertown public library as well.





we reached adelaide and our final destination (mawson lakes) at around 4.30pm. it was relief all around and we try not to think of the return journey so soon yet. we like mawson lakes alot and have we not settled in melbourne, we are pretty sure that this will be where we will lay our hats.
it rained pretty much the whole of friday, so we spent the morning browsing at the adelaide central market, checked out the adelaide public library before heading to hahndorf in the early afternoon for lunch. the rain put paid to our plan to visit the animal farm in hahndorf where we had a lot of fun during our last visit; and fagan got her fingers painfully pecked by an emu. fagan thus never has her chance to get even.

hahndorf is full of historical flavour. it is one of the earliest german settlement in australia. it should be a `must visit' place for those who visits adelaide. only 20 minutes away from adelaide, it has quite a few attractions that one can spend the day there. a walk along main street to check out the wide range of shops selling german pastries, sausages to curios is a great way to get acquainted with the smallish town. it has great cafes as well as a (surprisingly)fantastic chinese restaurant. there is also beerenberg, a strawberry jam factory and an animal farm nearby where the kids will have a great time with animals.

meeting with the relatives is the highlight of the trip. this is a rare occasion to catch my aunt and uncle from singapore. this is also the first time we met with our adelaide cousins after a couple of years. after a great home cook meal on thursday, we met for a fine dinner at a restaurant on friday.

just as it was a great occasion for us adult to catch up, it was also an opportunity for the kids to get to know each other better. it was a short but fun time for them

on saturday, we left early to get home in good time. by 7am, both the car and us fuel up at castrol and mcdonalds' respectively to get ready for the journey back.

we had a couple of stops, mainly toilet breaks. it rained pretty much on our whole journey back, so we did not have the opportunity to stop at some of the attractions along the way.

stats:
trip stops: (blackburn south) - horsham - border town - mawson lakes - adelaide - hahndorf - mawson lakes - coomandook - kaniva - horsham - syndenham - (blackburn south)
total distance traveled: 1676km
fuel consumption: 9.2l/100km for the entire trip (best recorded mileage 9.0l/100km) on a volvo xc70

as @ 11 july 2009

cold melb

Frosty night as Melbourne suburbs drop below zero
Sherrill Nixon
July 8, 2009 - 7:52AM

The Age
Melburnians awoke to ice on their car windscreens and across their lawns after a night of below-freezing temperatures in many suburbs.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/frosty-night-as-melbourne-suburbs-drop-below-zero-20090708-

this was exactly what i experienced this morning when i left for work at 8am.

as there is only one car-port in this house, my better half's car got the short end of the straw on most days. today, i decided to drive cecilia's car to my office instead as we need to fill up the gas in preparation for our cross state trip to adelaide, south australia tomorrow.

on first look, nothing out of the ordinary, as the windscreen is all fog up. so i picked up a piece of cloth to wipe it clear. of course, when everything felt crusty, i realized that frost has enveloped the car.

still unsure of how to defrost a car, i drove to work with the windows down for the first 10 minutes. the car temperature reads 1 degrees celcius. and of course, 10 minutes is all i need to get into office :-(

p.s. my colleague told me later in office that one needs to just pour room temperature water onto the windscreen and things should just takes care of itself.