When Winnie the Pooh and friends were woken up by a strange sound, it was the start of a great expedition. A Heffalump expedition. Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit and Eeyor carry on as Heffalump hunters in their usual hundred acre woods way. Meanwhile, little Roo goes off on his own and discovers a new friend and lets go of his fear.
Pooh movies are those little treasures that you coke across every once in a while. It's really about the children and the way they discover the world around them. It does not rely on fancy special effects, high tech robots or laser swords. It is quite simply, a story told in a most subtle but engaging way.
The Heffalump Movie is about fear of the unknown. Something kids are quite familiar with. Fear of the unknown, the unfamiliar. But then, with a little bit of courage, something that you were scared of might actually turn out to be someone you would treasure for the rest of your life. Friendship, camaraderie and courage are the themes for the Heffalump movie. And it's still a pretty cool movie, despite it's age (and age target). It's meant for kids and kids at heart, Jakjak and myself watched it over a TV broadcast over the local channel. It's a good movie to share over prata. :-)
Singapore has been known to hosting lavish year end parties. But that's what they are, parties. It was never like our year end celebration back home in the Philippines. Back then, neighbours and family were around to celebrate with cheers, food and fireworks (it is usually very loud).
We have spent a few quiet years in Singapore, so this year, we went and spent the turn over with family in Batam. It wasn't nearly as loud as back home, but it wasn't as quiet as when it was only the three of us waving light sticks. In the end, it's still about being a family, and that's what it was. The turn over of the new year with Jakjak, mum, lolo, lola, cousin Andrae, Niki and Frankie, aunt Gladys and uncle Arvin.
Here's wishing everybody a prosperous New Year. May all your wishes come true!
One of the banes of people like me, people who are working away from their "home", is the somewhat incomplete celebrations of Christmas and New Year.
This year, Jakjak (and ourselves) celebtated Christmas with lolo, lola and kuya Andrae's family (daddy Arvin, mommy Gladys, Niki and Frankie). Which was better than our first Christmas in Singapore with only the three of us and a couple of phone calls. I'm pretty sure that the kids had fun, and so did their grandparents. Myself, personally, should have had as much fun. So the lesson is: do not think too much during the holidays!
Holidays, Christmas especially, is meant to be celebrated with people you love and care for. It's been said before, and it still remains true, it's not about the gifts but more about the people you celebrate it with. It is a birthday celebration after all (happy birthday Jesus!).
After all the presents have been opened and all the greetings said, we retired to a happy and restful evening. Lolo and lola will be spending some time with Andrae and the twins in Indonesia. We are now all looking forward to welcoming the new year with happier and healthier hearts and minds. Happy Holidays!
Qing Ming Shang He Tu. The Song Dynasty as living art.
A little background should be in order here. The Moving Masterpiece display at the Singapore Expo is a sort of modernization of a big piece of art from China's Song Dynasty. An artist named Zhang Zeduan created it to depict the dynasty's history and achievements.
What caught our eye (rather Jakjak's eyes) was the food. There is an "open to the public" food and beverage area that has been designed to mimic the exhibit's theme. Within the F&B hall is the souvenir shop and a small activity area for kids.
The first area of the exhibit didn't look promising, because there's a lot of empty space. But the audio guide was a good tool to help you understand it. The elements and their real life relationship was described and compared to how Singapore had been built. It was two sides of a coin, one of the Song dynasty and the other of Singapore.
It was from here, less than five minutes into the show that Jakjak once again surprised us with his keen sense of attentiveness (sometimes, the lack thereof) as he proved that he was listening to the audio guide. He started looking for people and things that were being described in the audio guide, and it kept him interested throughout the static displays all the way through to the (rather small) interactive area.
Then we come to the really good part. The actual "moving masterpiece". It's so massive that it covers an entire Expo hall wall. But it's not just that, the flowing water in the foreground immediately invites you to come closer. And then you see small figures coming to life from within the painting. Think of the living portraits from your Harry Potter memories, and imagine the people to be old Chinese villagers. Except that this one spans a hundred and twenty eight metres across. Don't forget about the audio guide, it tells the story of the painting portion by portion. And through the narrative, Jakjak once again becomes involved in the grander scheme of things.
It has been a good journey for us through the painting, and the story it told was a fascinating look at the past through modern art and technology. We all enjoyed it, and we truly believe that most of you will to.
There was an anime festival today. And I'm an anime fan. Sort of. It could be that I "was" an anime fan. I still watch anime when I can, and I still sing along to the Voltes V opening theme song when I hear it. But I am no longer up to date with the newer anime types. Somehow, I'm not as interested with the lot of them, not as much as I used to anyway (I had my Gundam series complete before it even finished airing in the local cable channels).
I don't really think that I have outgrown that part of my life. I just shifted priorities, and anime is not on the top of my list anymore. Photography, for one, has taken over my list of hobbies. Cars have also taken a back seat since I lost my ride when we decided to settle in Singapore.
We have adapted to a new way of life in a short span of time. Sacrifices had to be made here and there, which is paving the way for a more grown up family. At least we try to be grown up. You see, children will not understand the things that we parents need to engage in at the back of the stage. We laugh, we live, we enjoy when we can. And when we must, we endure. These things don't matter to Jakjak. What matters to him is us being together and having fun. So all the pencil pushing, calculator bashing, blueprinting and planning happen while Jakjak is busy with something else.
Sometimes it does get a bit stressful. And when he's not careful, Jakjak sometimes gets a blunt of the chaos. Accidentally of course. But it's not something he does on a daily basis (nor is it something that I do everyday as well). It is a necessary something that you wish you didn't have to do. But it's there, a minor annoyance (like a lump of pork stuck between your teeth), buy it's there. All you can do really, is to kick it in the butt and take control. There's just no other way around it.
"What in the world is Myopia?" was my first question when Jakjak had a screening in school a few months ago (free and mandatory). We then received a follow up letter with a referral to an eye doctor in Geylang (a place made infamous by being a red light district). And so we went.
The good doctor tested Jakjak with eye equipment (obviously) in a series of tests. I'm not really a doctor, so I can't really do a diagnosis, but since Jakjak was born a preemie, I did have genuine concerns about his eyes (although he was cleared of any issues before he was discharged from the hospital after staying for 2 months).
This was Jakjak's first visit to a specialist other than a pediatrician, so for him to see and use those different machines was pretty cool. He looked through some kind of scope where I heard his doctor ask him to look at a barn and a cow (you could only see a box from the outside). He then tried on this weird looking spectacle with interchangeable lenses and it had numbers and levers and looked like something from a science fiction movie.
There were some small letters (incredibly small, seriously) that he was not able to read in the chart, which made me worry. At the end of the session though, the doctor happily said that Jakjak has slight astigmatism in the right eye but there is no need for eyeglasses. That was awesome news (and Jakjak had been a happy little bugger while doing all the testing). We headed out for some chicken rice for breakfast and I planned the rest of the afternoon with Jakjak (eventually, this story will lead us to SAM).
I know that toddlers and kids can be a handful on holiday trips. In fact, they can be a handful on the most normal of days. We knew that before Judy booked our flights and accommodations. We knew that ever since we had our own toddler to be honest. But it didn't stop us from booking a trip anyway. In fact, bringing Jakjak on the trip was a reason in itself to go on this holiday. This is part of his birthday celebration (which he is happy about).
Jakjak has a curiosity in him that is complemented by his wild imagination. The effects of watching Nat Geo and History HD has actually given him a broader perspective of the world around him (I reckon he already knows how small we are in the grand scheme of the world). This reality is augmented in turn by his much loved Dr. Seuss books. So I can only imagine his brain thinking about talking elephants walking down the streets of Penang. Which is highly unlikely, but we tend not to discourage him.
One thing you have to expect when you have Jakjak with you is to expect the unexpected. One moment his spirits are up and high and the next he's down and miserable (taking down everybody with him). The best way to cope with these mood swings is to initially go with the flow and slowly re-direct. It doesn't always work, and it is usually a frustrating few minutes before we get him down to a manageable mood.
Toys and games are another way to reign control back momentarily (at least until you get your bearings back). We only brought 1 of his toys on this trip (he wanted to bring his entire drawer - because he said he would miss them), but ended up getting him bits and pieces along the way. Our iPod batteries were drained every night because it's the only way to get control back sometimes. But again, the only way to enjoy this trip was to get everybody on the same page at the same time. Patience (boatloads of it) is key. Luck comes in second. And third is, well, since there was no plan to begin with, simply enjoy the ride (however rough it may be at times).
