SUPER BLACK TALE...

let me tell you a story, about my super black...

hahaha!!! yes, the bloody super black, from the brand LEVI'S... (damn!)

it's a superblack kind of super horror story, of this pair of superblack jeans...

see... we've just shifted lately, so, there're some spring cleaning, and clearing, and giving away...

while I decided to give away, my superblack, cos, it seemed as if, the “black” is shedding...

so, I thought, maybe I don't need it...

and since it's shedding, I put it in a plastic bag, but after discussing with him, the conclusion is, all levi's must be kept... ooh!!!

and so I took it out from the box... well... I shouldn't have asked him, cos, I was a bit err... on the sentimental side about giving away, anyway... there goes the story...

as I mentioned, the “black” is shedding off... so, I thought, maybe I'll send it to cleaning services, let them do the job...

but... day after day, (well, going to cleaning services, is not my first choice, I don't quite like to go, never!)

one day, after I washed all my washable bags, I decided to give this pair of superblack a wash... then keep it again...

so, I threw it to the toploader directly from the plastic bag...(second mistake, first was, to take it back from the giveaway box)

and I switch on the machine...

after a while, I realised, the machine's not draining... so I opened up the tub and saw a black pool of water... and I thought, well... the colourant really was shedded badly... very very badly...

and my hitachi washer came out with this error code C2, which, I didn't quite realise the problem yet...

so, I started another cycle...

again, it's not draining...

and this time, I put my hand in, (of course, when the machine was stopped)

gosh... when my hand went in... gosh gosh gosh!!! I couldn't feel anything at all...

COULDN'T FEEL A THING...

no jeans!!!

no jeans!!!

no jeans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I moved my hand a little bit inside the DARK WATER! Gosh... I felt something... it's the label... yes, the back label!! the levi's label!! damn!!!!!!!!!!

the whole jeans disintegrated, in my BRAND NEW WASHER!!!

LEVI'S YOU MUST COMPENSATE ME! (I always thought, jeans is a lifetime type of outfit!!! now, LEVI's just proved me wrong! Then, don't sell your jeans so expensively anymore, you should also put on the label, that says, DEGRADEABLE!)

that's not the real ultimate problem, friend!!!!!!

let me tell you,

as the jeans disintegrated, all the whatever that was made into the jeans, has turned into mud and ashes!! that's how it felt like! And they all had gone down to the very bottom of the drum of my washer... yes, beyond my reach!!!!!!!!! very bottom of the drum... I couldn't touch, I couldn't reach!!!

I couldn't do a thing...

the water ain't draining, and there's nothing much I can do, and there's still a big pool of DARK WATER in the washer!!!

so, I scooped the water out,

one small bucket at a time,

from small bucket, to a glass, to using a cloth, to kinda dry the tub...

during the process, I picked up all tiny bits of debris of cloth, if I could, and throw them away!

What's next??

so, when I reached the bottom of the tub, there's nothing much I could do, so, I thought, well... maybe that's the end of the disaster...

so, I started another cycle of wash, ie. Tub wash! (hitachi's feature!)

and there, the second round of disaster started again...

it's DARK WATER again,

and it's not draining again,

when the water starts flushing into the tub, and when the drum start rotating...

all the black mud, ashes flew out...

and when I put my hand in again, I could feel the debris...

uncatchable...

just imagine, you put your hand into the bottom of a muddy river, and try to grab something, that's the feeling!

Realising the big disastrous event... I scooped the water out again, bucket by bucket, glass by glass... for the second time...

in between, still the usual housewife's routine...

after dinner, when he's back,

I did the third round, and again, it's the third tub of DARK WATER, and third round of scooping water,

it's non-stop, it's neverending!

Damn you! LEVI's superblack!

In the end, we both decided to give it a break,

maybe call the service line the next day, bla bla bla...

(but I need a washer, on a daily basis...!!!! ok, I used to think that, without internet connection, I'll be lifeless! But then, now, I realise, a washer is more important than my internet connection!)

I called the service line, they're indeed pretty efficient, and helpful, or at least, they're great at listening...

but then, the leadtime is 3 days, and after 3 days, it's not guaranteed that, I'll have a brand new good washer again,

and... honestly, they've never quite encounter such scenario!

so... after having a nice chat session with the service people, I'd a better and a firmer idea on what to do about the washer...

gosh! For that 2 days, I was damn bloody stressed up...

one brand new washer (less than 2 months) down the drain, and I gotta take out another 1.5K bucks for another replacement, damn you! LEVI's!!!!!!

but then, both of us know well that, even after this can be fixed, we won't be confident in it anymore... I mean, the tub was black, black black, all the time...

I honestly, don't dare to throw in any white colour clothing to be washed!

The rest...

you extrapolate...

that's the end of my superblack tales...

cheers...

we were doing some spring cleaning today, prior to our house-shifting... and he takes the lead in packing the kids' toys... haha, all I heard is, "whoa! how can this get here?", "why is the pompom everywhere?", "why is there bluetac inside the lego block?", "where is the other part?", I laughed... I then told him, by looking at the trails of these toys, you can imagine what the kids have been doing everyday... you may think it's an excuse for me not to clean up their mess everyday, or not to impose a rule for them to clean up each set each time they're done with it, of to make sure that they keep things according to each and individual set... honestly I've tried all that... but when it's just so of their nature to mix things around and create their own play, I gave up... I told him... creativity and tidiness, somehow don't go along with each other... I don't want to set too many rules for them, and to myself... they pull everything from the house and mix them together and create new things, and on and off, I gave them rubbish to play, boxes, cup holder carton from MCD... and to confess... the mess is up to the point where I don't know where to start.., if I were to start putting them back in order... only simple houserules, for eg. mess must be contained in certain area... like a corner of their room, or a corner of the living room... but just to recap... I did honestly think that, when he was kinda complaining how messy the kids' toys are... what got into my mind was all the activities they were doing, creating and enjoying everyday... in this house, (of course I admit that it's not each time I do welcome all these actions with a cheerful smile)... for eg. my sofa's cover, the thread started coming out, why??? as to my son, it serves as a runway for his cars, a cliff, or some sort... ya, his cars ran and fell off the "cliff" sometimes... and some of them broke... sigh... but, unstoppable... so I gave up... and their babyhood nappies are their picnic mat, or tablecloth whenever my daughter wanted to have a tea party... does she play her tea party with just a tea party set?? nope... she took our mini christmas tree, some ring blocks that she called donuts, and some colourful pebbles which she put in her glass... that's why, it's how messy it can be... at the end of the play... but in the end, it's their memory... and their childhood... oh... I have tried, but I gave up... haha... let them be what they want to be...

multipy mutiply, where are you now???

ya... somehow, I missed the good old day, of multiply.com... seriously...

and at present, I’m having the itch, to move my photos (not really move, but start anew) to other photo hosting websites... and, again, at present, I’m using flickr... till I think I don’t like it...

good old day of multiply.com,

straightforward and simple... sharing photos, straightfoward,

when I login to mutiply, I don’t use it to read news, or share news and so on...

straightforward in sharing photos, straightforward in managing your privacy, you could even check, who’s viewed that particular photo, or particular entry that you’ve posted...

none of the current SNS is that detailed, in managing the “privacy” setting... honestly...

and I miss the simplified timeline or whatever you call it, the “landing” page...

that’s why, nowadays, I “decentralize” my usage,

text, mostly twitter,

personal photos, mostly flickr... well, in the mean time, I’m posting as “private viewing”,

not sharing... don’t see the need to share yet...

general photos, instagram...

facebook, haha!! I used it for viewing others, and maybe doing some commenting, and mainly for reading news, what news?? hahaha... my japanese drama updates... hahaha!!!!

yes, cos, most taiwanese, the first generation of japanese drama fans, use facebook,

while the younger generation, they use weibo, yes, sina weibo, so, lately, I’m most active on weibo, wahaha!!! but active, in a non-private sense... nothing personal posted...

^_^

of course, while doing all that, I still do blog...

see, besides, the japanese drama updates,

the rest, I could,

I mean, I really could, settle well, with the good old multiply.com,

you see~?? you see~????????

so, right now, I’m in the mood, or searching more useable photo cloud storage sites...

shutterfly, or shoeboxapp, hm...

anyway, I gotta stick to flickr in the mean time...

cheers...

A.M. & P.M.

see... I've been struggling for a while, as in a few months, at least... regarding sending my 1^st baby to afternoon session school, vs. morning session... here, cos, the classrooms are never enough for the kids, primary schools and high schools... therefore, there will always be morning session AND afternoon session, with the lower grades go into afternoon sessions...

and I've beens struggling for a while, cos, I thought I wanted the morning school for my baby... as in, I thought, if she continues to go for morning schools... she'll be able to continues her other extra classes... and life will be easier for me...

but then, one day, I kinda got cold-feet a little bit, thinking of how early I'll have to get up, to get her ready, or US, ready to send her to school... not only that, after that, I'll have to send my little one to the kindy... yep, immediately I felt inconfident in that...

then, one day again, I kinda read about other moms and so on... mentioned about the fact of having one in the morning school, and one in the afternoon school... yes, the logistic part is a little bit challenging... a lot of driving in and out and bla bla bla... but then, there's something that's pretty... mm.... I'll say, “rewarding”, as in, at any time, you'll face 1 kid alone... as in, there'll be a lot of precious 1-to-1 session with the kid... and, I thought, that's pretty cool... rather than, as this moment, after I pick up big baby from kindy, she'll be a home, have lunch, nap, then, get up for classes, then, play, then bla bla bla... and lot of 2-kids-together time, that also means, a lot of fighting time... maybe... I was thinking to myself, maybe if, 1 in the morning, and 1 in the afternoon, the only time they can see each other is at night, hopefully they'll treasure each other more...

and hopefully, I can spend better time with each one of them...

cos, currently the little one has not gone to kindy yet... yap, big mama here prefers to keep him at home and enjoy his cuteness fully~~ (still super very cute! ^_^)

so... in the end, I told big baby, that, I'll not apply to change the school for her... she'll go to THAT school that I've registered her...

and hopefully, God Blesses us, THAT, she'll get into that school...

cheers...

he said... just a little bit of TV...

yesterday, I was scolding him... ya, these few days, ever since chinese new year, all of us are down with flu, luckily, the kids are getting better, in fact, the one with the best condition is she...

then, the little one,

then, both of us, BAD! The backflow is really bad, the mucus... gosh!!!

anyway,

so, I was in super bad mood, and I scolded him,

telling them, besides TV, ipad, and food and drink, nothing else he can do... (I know I know, some of you experts out there, will tell me this is the last thing you should say to your kids!)

but then, that's kinda true...

cos, in the normal days, he'll switch on the TV on his own, sits down on the sofa and watch... (ya, no ipad)

then, while watching, when he gets bored, he'll start looking for drinks, or food...

non-stop...

I told him, he's going to be FAT FAT FAT!

He sensed my anger...

so, while I was in the washroom...

he came and asked me humbly..

“mama, can I watch the TV, just a little bit??”,

ok... I have to say, the way he asked, sooooooo innocently...

I've no choice, but to say, “ok!”

~_~

洗衣機。Washer。

偶爾長途車，我和他會聊天聊整路，

那天，就聊了兩個話題。。。

一，洗衣機

二，語言

先說洗衣機好了。。。

因為，很多年了，我一直用著frontload 式的，

然後，大約十年，壞了。。。

因為要搬家的原因，所以，暫時的用著topload 式的。。。

對，我知道，市面上很多很多的人，朋友啊！sales 啊，都會說，topload 沒有frontload 的洗得乾淨，而且對衣服不好。。。

也對，洗得乾淨與否，我有待參考。。。

一，多年，我用frontload 的，我的白色衣服什麼的，還是變成黑黑的一噠噠的。。。

二，frontload 的有問題的話，問題會很大。

anyway。。。

忘了，還是用英文好一點。。。因為，和他談話的過程，我倆是用英語的。

it started as... I was telling him about my conversation with my friends, regarding topload washer vs. frontload...

as I mentioned that,

I've decided to go for toploader,

1. I don't have to buy special type of detergent, ie. lowsuds,

2. I don't have to bother about mold building up at the rim, yes, the sales also advise me to dry the rubber rim, if frontloader, after every wash...

3. I don't have to let the washer rest in between cycles, yes, I read from somewhere, to prolong the lifespan, it's better not to wash back-to-back... as in, in between loads/washes, let the washer rest for a while... problem is,

4. frontloader! one cycle is VERY long!

5. yes, frontload washer's more expensive than topload washer...

my friend then mentioned one point,

she'll go for european brand for her next  washer... hahaha!! she can't wait for her current washer to kaput, that, she said, she'll get an european brand... ie. for frontloader...

while, she believes that toploader, go for japanese brand, cos, japanese is best at making topload washers!

all... I agree...

then, throughout our conversation, I came out with a conclusion...

hahaha! generally, yes, europeans like using frontloaders,

and have no problem with frontloaders..

which in a way is true... cos, I guess... due to the geographical location and climate, they don't have loads and loads of laundry to clear, in a frequent basis...

that's part of the reason, I guess...

while for me,

I like to do laundry, and in this climate, we have more clothes piling up everyday,

and of course, more of other household linen too...

that, I think, a topload washer serves me better... cos, I don't have to worry about the load, (ya, you can't quite overload your frontloader...)

though, you also can't really overload your toploader, but the performance will tell straightaway, cos, the drum won't turn...

then, at present, most topload washers are "high performance", ie. inverter, power saving, water saving, and all sorts of beat styles...

so, I guess, for my daily need, I will be able to use a toploader more efficiently...

and yes, a toploader does more harm to your clothings... while a frontloader is more gentle...

for cleanliness wise, I don't think so...

cos, for the past few years, using a frontloader... my white shirts are kinda black now...

so, I told him...

for frontloader...

long wash cycle, I can endure...

watch the load I put in, I can endure...

dry the rubber rim after the wash, I can endure...

there's only one thing...

if we were to go for frontloader... then, he cannot expect me to let it rest between cycles... there'll sure be 1 or 2 days in a week, that, I'll do washes, load after load... and that he's to prepare to change a washer every 4 to 5 years...

yes, if you go to the electrical shops and ask those sales, that's what they're going to tell you...

ie. if your washer can last you for more than 5 years, it's good enough...

well, I pay more for a washer, that last me less than 5 years, and I pay less for a washer that may even last me for 20 years...

plus, without all the "concerns" that I really don't want to be too bothered...

therefore, I reach a conclusion to myself...

that, I'll go for a toploader...

period...

(as of now... kekeke!)

she cries~~

the other day, it's PTM (Parent-Teacher-Meeting) in her school... so, I went, and chatted with her form teacher...
generally, and overall... she's fine... except...
teacher mentioned that, she's rather emo, and cries easily...
most of the time, she'd cry, before telling others what the problem was...
and the form teacher would try to calm her down and get her to speak out first, before CRYING~~~
I mentioned to the teacher that, she's been pretty emo since she's born... and that's what I've been telling her too... before cry, speak first...

on the way back, I asked her why she cries so  much in the school...
then, I said this...
why don't you cry at home, and then, when you go to school, you don't cry...
guess what this girl say? I mean... guess how she responded???

she said,
If I cry at home, you'll scold me...

ok... now, I get it,
you choose to cry, and you seem to enjoy it...
cos, at home, if you cry, I'll scold you, so, you choose to do it at school...
ie. you cry, by choice...

hm... what type of mentality is this????
ya, my girl...

Oh, St. Luke

my father had a surgery this morning...

his pelvic bone fractured, and that, he's to do some adjustment,

let's skip the details...

so, I was asking my younger brother, which saint to pray to...

St. Luke, it is...

I was very worried, and I am, currently, staying quite a distance from them, and that, I'll not be able to be there, in time when they need me...

luckily, for my younger brother, that, he's there to monitor and upate me on everything...

Praise to Lord!

I was worried, very worried, (of course, one's going to tell me, not to worry... in a way, I understand, but of course, I'm worried, after knowing the risks...)

so, I prayed...

the whole of last night, thought I was tired...

I was stressed too... due to the stressful driving on the road, daily...

yes, housewives can be stressed too, that's something that most people will not get it...

anyway,

so, I prayed...

I prayed to St. Luke...

I couldn't find much information on the catholic.org website...

but I found this,

and I guess it's alright...

anyway, it's between God and I, there's no right and wrong... I supposed...

I put my faith in Him,

and I prayed...

St. Luke
Most charming and saintly Physician, you were animated by the
heavenly Spirit of love. In faithfully detailing the humanity of
Jesus, you also showed His divinity and His genuine compassion
for all human beings. Inspire our physicians with your
professionalism and with the divine compassion for their patients.
Enable them to cure the ills of both body and spirit that afflict
so many in our day.
Amen

Japanese food... why??

each time, when I meet up with friends who just came back from japan, I'll ask them if the food is so good so good... ^_^, and each time, when I asked them, they'll give me that “super yummy”, type of look, when talking about japanese food...

same food, simple, for eg. Just a simple shoyu udon, it just taste so good...

so, I talked about this with him the other day, why??? why is it that good, whenever we're there, the food,

just a simple gyu-don, for example,

well, maybe it's due to the weather, but then, not so, if it's the same cold weather, in UK, or in Australia, it will not give us the same “umph”...

why??

he then told me one very important clue, I guess,

the clue!!

it's the portion,

japanese food, served in japan, not too big, not too small, just right!!!

I don't know how to really put it in reality, maybe just a little bit more, it'll spoil the so-called “portion”, the size...

we all know that, generally, the portion's smaller than the rest of the world,

when we get a drink, for eg. A starbucks coffee, over here, it's medium, over there, it's large,

same as their cake, the portion is always 1 size smaller...

so, his point is,

the portion is not obviously too small, but after you have it, you feel that, you just want more, cos, it's just right, it's just good, but then, you won't take another one, you know why?? it's not cheap, wahahahahahaha!!!

so, it's the price vs. portion thing...

which, I think, it's been overlooked in other parts of the world...

where you know... if it's in UK, or it's in Australia, the portion, will always be HUGE!!

which, will defeat the purpose,

and when it's in the country where I'm residing, the price... will be just enough, for us to get a second helping...

but that's not the case in japan...

so, whatever you put in your mouth, the portion is just right, and you'll just have to feel super grateful with whatever you're eating, cos, you're not going to get a second helping...

and of course, the weather kinda help...

I've not been to japan when it's summer,

I'm not sure if... in a hot weather, their food will taste particularly good or not... but then, japanese has their own summer food, that's one of the key thing... they've seasonal food,

so, in summer, you may have the cold soba, running down in a bamboo tube, cold water...

one thing, they don't mind eating their food cold!!!

which, I came across an article, about carbo... (just let me side-track a little bit!)

apparently, the best carbo's still rice, or potato...

but, you've to eat it cold...

and, THAT's how japanese have been eating their food, ie. COLD!!!

which, again, other parts of the country will not do that...

(or probably only scandinavian!)

until, in the near past, the taiwanese introduced hot food to them, ie. Microwave your rice, microwave your whatever... then only they started to eat it hot, then, only they hm... started to overuse the microwave... then... hm... there seemed to be an increase of health problem nationally??

FORD SERVICE CENTRE, PJ, my experience

ok... this is supposed to be told, half year ago... it's my experience, half year ago, in the service centre, PJ...
my car is old, >7 years... to a lot of people, it's old, but to me, it's still... ok... cos, during my parents time, it's 15-20 year-old car, IS old!!! anyway,
so, I sent it in for a thorough service and checkup, and maybe, to replace something, if I need to...
1. after nearly 1 day of waiting, with my kids tagging along (cos, I'm a fulltime housewife), they told me, this is just round 1 service, thorough checkup was not done yet! And I gotta bring the car back to the centre ONE MORE TIME, for thorough checkup... so, on that day, I've no choice but to take back my car, and I gotta call in again, to arrange for another day...
thus, I did...
so, I sent in again, and they told me, this and that, bla bla bla, needed to be changed...
then, the service officer told me this,
2. she said, “why don't you bring your car to other service centre, the price will be halved!”, I was like... err... I've already sent my car here, and you know I'm dragging my 2 precious peas, do you think, it's so convenient, and so easy for me to simply go anywhere to get my car serviced?? I came here for a solution... but I know she meant to be good, so, I didn't retaliate, but then, I thought, it's kinda... weird... and she even gave me a contact number...
3. after I left the car for thorough checkup, I left, and it was a holiday season, so, I didn't quite need the car, but I left a message, where, if there's anything need to be changed, please call me back to let me know, the parts, and the price... and she never call back, and you know what? It's difficult for me to call in too... the phone's forever... NOBODY picks up... anyway, I've no choice, but to call in... and I called... and I managed to get her... guess what??
she told me, bla bla bla, ie. Price and parts...
then, I said, “go ahead, please change for me, thanks!”, and guess what she said???
“wow!! you're rich!!”,
again, my OS was like... #T%$@&%*#&%$%@#$!#@$ what do you expect me to do?? too expensive, and I gotta take back my car, and send to somewhere else?? I told her, I expect the centre to be a 1-stop solution centre for me...
anyway... I have to INSIST that, I'll leave my car to be serviced, fully!!! then, she's scared that this will be too expensive for me and that I'll complain later... and that, she's to get a black and white from me...
ok ok...

in the end, yes, I did have my car serviced, and parts changed... buti then, this experience was like... kinda... frustrating and weird....
sigh...

BAD DREAM, MISSING... ERR... P L A N E...

ya... honestly, eversince... I've this phobia... therefore, when he said he's a business trip in the coming month, asked if I'd like to bring the kids along, after some worrying and thinking... I told him “nope”...
you know, right after the incident, we'd our family trip to osaka, and I was super duper worried... prayed so hard...
I told him, if it's me alone, I'm fine, but with the kids, “touch wood”, if anything happens, what do I say to them?? like those scenes in the movie?? hugged them hard, and tell them that “everything's ok!????”, then?? doom!!!!!!!! gosh!!! thinking that, their future's just put a stop, I can't imagine that... it's just horrifying...
and just the other night, I had a bad night sleep... lately, I don't really sleep well, again, it's due to the bad weather... it just got so bright outside the window, early in the morning, and the whole night is just so hot!! arrgh... nothing's pleasant...!
and that... I woke up with this dream...
ie. another P L A N E went missing... and in the dream, I've to go plot the route and try to locate it! Damn!

ABOUT THROWING, OR KEEPING, OR BUYING

ok... I've wanted to write something about this... for quite some while... but most of the time, I'm just too busy... ^_^ (who ain't?? haha!)
anyway,
I've some funny habit in keeping gadgets, idevices, android phones and so on, and mostly, PC, ie. Laptop/notebook you call it... well, as long as they're not overly slow... I like to... erm... play with it, by putting in new OS, and see how it purforms... if you ask me, I personally think that, buying a new machine, and giving an old machine a new life... the latter give me more joy, in using it, afterall... just lately, I put in a HDD of 500GB to an old dell notebook, year 2007, yes, it'll be running MS WinXP, but it's still pretty good, and pretty fast...
as throughout the years, my digital assets are growing, I need another windows PC for simply... iTunes... yes, I do use iTunes to keep a copy of my apps, and also backup my many idevices... hehehehehehe!!!
so far, so good... therefore, as long as those notebook/netbook that are not too old, but simply the owner doesn't want to use it anymore, I'll get from them, mostly my family at the moment...
while my idevices, the oldest I have is the ipod touch 2^nd generation... and my dear son's tossed it onto the floor, cracked... yes, cracked skin... well... usually, to “revive” such device, I'll either install certain package of apps into it, and give it a new casing/cover and so on... as long as it looks a little bit different, I'm happy using it...
these are my gadget story...
while my clothing... too bad that I don't know how to use a sewing machine, but I've tried my best to locate some tailors... if they can modify my (or our family's) older clothing, to something else... so far, I've modified his working shirts into kid's pants (from the sleeves) and my own tank top... ^_^ not bad huh??? then I cut my ¾ sport pants into short pants, well... the weather's HOT HOT HOT!!! I don't want to wear any pants longer than my knees... and I think those ¾ pants were just too “bulky”, so, I slimmed them down... hehehe...
once in a while, I do try to think of what I should do with all the old stuff in my house... ya, you can imagine that, I do have a lot of things in my house, cos, I'm not a thrower...
I've a friend, his principle is... anything that's spoilt, throw... good idea in a way, but then... both he and I are the type, “as long as it can be fixed, we'll fix it first!”...
there's one japanese lady who wrote a book, telling you that, less is good, I do agree...
but throwing... at the same time, we've to stop buying... if we continue to buy, throwing's bad...
it's only good, if we stop buying...
that's my belief...
there's also a japanese show, “Umoreru”(I've not finished the show yet!) about an old lady, whose house's covered with piles and piles of old goods from the neighbourhood... everybody think she's abnormal... but then, her house's actually kinda cleaned... no odd smell... the character played by Kuninaka Ryoko said something like this, “everybody thinks she's weird, but I think those who keep buying new things and throw away old things, ie. Those who don't treasure their belongings are weirder, she's just a normal lonely lady...”, ya, something like this...
well... this is just my usual blabber, about throwing... or keeping... and I'm sure, I'm the latter...

Another 1-week downtime...

let me tell you this...

after 1 week of struggle, install and uninstall, update, upgrade and so on...

phew...

finally I've settled on xubuntu...

the funny thing is, both are ubuntu related,

yet, linuxmint's pretty buggy for my liking, first, the ibus didn't work, no matter what, it just ain't working well...

the candidates won't show up, the more I tried?? cool, in the end, it didn't even tickle, ie. Even though it's ibus-enabled, yet, it's not inputing anything of ibus-related characters... (damn you!)

I tried with linuxmint mate, linuxmint xfce, cos, xubuntu 13.10 worked fine on one of my very old netbook, ie. HP mini 1000... works like breeze...

so, I thought, since I've been using mint for a while, why not I just stick to it right?

Therefore, I gave linuxmint xfce a try...

in fac, in fact, in fact, I love the interface, it's much better than mate...

I love the pre-packed apps that come together, but then, just like any linuxmint petra versions, the wireless driver ain't working...

and that, I've to install later...

and again, the ibus, JUST AIN'T WORKING!

And finally, I decided to give up...

give up on linuxmint, which I am so familiar with, and like it...

particularly, I like their file manager,

so, I put on xubuntu, bingo!! the wireless has no problem, and the ibus, though, I can't get the “preference” for pinyin to work, but the by-default configuration is fine with me, I mean, I just want to have 10 candidates shown up, rather than the default 5... but I'm fine with it, I can live with it...

now... I'll be on xubuntu for a while...

a while... till linuxmint/ibus fix each other...

or, till... indefinitely...

my linuxmint 16 experience... 48hr downtime...

it started like this...

at first, it's just one of those usual update/upgrade...

but i was playing with .wine stuff and things... and they weren't working... so, i was doing some autoclean...

then, suddenly, all gone,

i could login to the desktop, but there's no launcher bar and so on, ie. i can't launch a thing...,

then, the rightclick didn't give me much choice either...

therefore, it started the 48hr downtime,

i gotta move my nearly 450G data somewhere,

luckily i bought a new 1T HDD, else... (down the drain!)

and of course, it took some time,

cos, i gotta move the files, and also, gotta find out what to move, not to say that, i'm so familiar with linux, right???

so, in between, there're quite a bit of research to be done,

while on my windows PC, i gotta look for new linuxmint, or new ubuntu...

then, I installed linuxmint 16, ooi?? network doesn't work, it wasn't detecting my wifi...

i panicked a little bit... seriously i don't quite like to "solve" problem, especially my brain's trained to be a mother/housewife type of thinking, rather than err... looking a script and troubleshooting...

anyway,

after checking here and there, and with my brother...

and after doing a few installation of either linuxmint 15, 16, 14, and ubuntu 13.10...

all failed...

my brother told me, it's driver's problem, but then, why do i see my wireless detecting other networks except my own one??

however, it IS the wireless card's driver's problem... ie. my broadcom 4313, on my compaq notebook... hm!

i finally found it on the linuxmint forum,

and... mm... cos, i somehow need a connection, so, i used my handphone as the hotspot, download the patch from the linuxmint onboard software centre,

everything solved, everything done...

now, it's still in the midst of restoration, mind you!

Two is Good

First thing first...
if I'm younger... the more the merrier, not just “two is good”, hahaha!
Of course, I'm not sure about other people, and I won't say this, to be applied to other people, everybody's different...
but to me, yes, two is good,
and of course, 1 girl and 1 boy, is good, it's not because of the social background that I have, but generally, it's because, by having a girl and a boy, then, I know how each kid, different sexes, behave differently... ^_^


and what I'll say is, I'm in fact, a little bit regret that, I(or we) were a little bit too strict on our girl... -_-


why?
Let me share with you...
on the no.2,
he's slightly more “brave”, though, for some reason, he hates moving objects that makes sound... irregardless if it's in front of him, or in the TV,
else, he's more brave... cos, he couldn't care less of what we think, or what we may say about him, worse is, he'll just throw things, or throw a tantrum, the way he does it, he'll just stretch himself, if you're trying to put him down, or carry him, or, he'll just throw himself to the ground, and pretend that he's angry... ya, half of the time, he's just putting it into an act, to show you that, he's unhappy...
my girl, as a girl, she'll normally try to force herself to be obedient...
note it, force herself...


my boy,
he's more “origin', cos, overall, we don't really have much time for him, ie. He's more of the free-and-easy kid, cos, papa & mama pay more attention to the sister, and anyway, the sister also demands it...
so, overall, he's pretty free and less watched... therefore, he's more origin,
just for example,
just now, I was playing words with him, ie. I say “eye”, he'll point at his eyes, supposedly,
that time, he's holding a jello, small little one, and what he did was, he use the jello to do the pointing job, yo!!! cute man!!!
so, eye, ears, nose, mouth, all he used the jello to do the pointing job...
THIS, is very origin of him, none of us in the house have really done this before, ie. He's not been shown such act before, maybe a little bit of modification from the sis, but well, kinda original...
then, I said “buttock”, he took a while to think, cos, that's not the part that we normally show to him,
when I showed him, poking his little bum bum, he laughed...
the last one I said, “nen nen”, ie. Breasts...
actually he knows where it is, on himself, I mean... cos, usually I like to tell him, “mama bite nennen”, he'll laugh... I don't really bite, but then, I was tickling him with my mouth on his tummy... and he'll laugh laugh laugh...
so, when I said “nennen”, he paused, and thought for a while,
guess what he did next???
very cute yo~~~~
he used the jello, pointed at mine, hahahahahahaha!!! I thought that's so cute!
^_^


and these two days, I don't know why, he insisted me putting on a pair of socks for him,
again, usually we use socks on him, when we go out, when he's supposed to wear his shoes, cos, he's sweaty feet, so, I thought it's more hygienic for him to put on a pair of socks... but he insisted it not to be taken off... @_@


most of the other things, or acts that he does, were to copy the sis'...
else, he's pretty original...
whereas my dear darling girl,
she's more obedient, ie. Most of the things she does, (unless she's playing) or actions that she puts on, are something that we condone...
I then, try to discourage her...
but then, we started her with being strict, that's why I said, I'm feeling a little bit regretful... -_-


well... I kept telling him then,
as a girl, which I read somewhere,
usually, a girl, she cares for relationship more, rather than her own intention, that's the difference between a girl and a boy,
my boy? Typical boy, as if he cares what we think, or what we want off him...
though, to the older people, they think, this is absolute disobedient, but then, I told him, that, I'll rather my kids to have their own mind, a strong one, doesn't matter, than, being an over-obedient person, ie. Imagine, next time in work, they'll be just they typical “mr. yes-man”!


And yes, therefore, normally for domestic violence, it's most of the time, the girl's who's the victim, or you call it, the woman...
cos, for the relationship between you and me, the “you” can be father, mother, boyfriend, husband, or anybody that you care, and you love, I don't mind letting go of my ambition, my dream, my intention, my own thinking... yes, that's what a girl will do, and that's what I don't want my girl to be...
but then, having said so... we do struggle with disciplining sometimes, cos, we ourselves, do not not, and are not sure of where to draw the line exactly...
and yes, my girl's very strong-willed, and she does insist her way sometimes, and yes, sometimes, we ourselves even call it, a disobedient... anyway, dilemma dilemma all the time, ha~


of course, there're still many things for her to learn, and I do hope, she'll learn, or she'll just learn to get the message sometimes,
again, I think, we watched her too much, till she's kinda dependent on us...
unlike my boy...
though, she's slowly learning how to be on her own...
slowly...


what did want want to say?
Oh yes, having 2, is just nice...
yes, having my no.2, then, I learn that, I gotta let go,
then, I learn that, really, a lot of things, character wise, or behaviour wise, you may not believe it, but a lot of these, are already hardwired in a kid...
yes, you may still disagree with me, and still think that, a kid is trainable, then, it's your luck, or, then, shall I say you're lucky?? well, I'll not, cos, again, a kid that's trainable, I do not know if that's good, or bad...
seriously, I don't know, maybe to some kids/parents, that's good,
but then, I never know how to train a kid,
to get my girl to do a thing, and to do a thing consistently, ie. Every day, at that hour, ask me,
it's damn tough, and I still don't know how...
and till this day, I still struggle with her eating, her sleeping... and luckily, one thing down, ie. Pooping...
eating, sleeping, yes, still struggling...


and yes, all are hardwired,
that, is clearly told, by my boy...
the way he deals with his toys, the way he behaves, is simply, hardwired, inborn in him, cos, we clearly know that, we did not really teach him all that, but he initiated it himself...
and that's why I said, I am a little bit regretful, as we kinda “taught” our girl too much, till I don't know what her true colour is...
or, rather... we taught her too much, till even when she's showing her true colour, we refused to accept it???
^_^ maybe...


that's why I said, 2 is good,
cos, what we learn from our boy, and that, we learn to kinda let go, let go, let go, a little bit on our girl, and believe that, and have faith that, she can take care of herself pretty well...
TWO, is good,
if I'm still younger...
I'll think, the more, the merrier!


Cheers...

Never Wok

The other day, I was feeling the itch to bring out my 42” round bottom wok, to cook... and I thought I'll start to be a wokking wife, using it for every single cooking job... wa haha!!!!!

the first thing I did was, to cook pasta...

and the result?

Crap!! the pasta sauce that I've made, as I couldn't have a grasp of how well the different ingredient can be cooked just nice... I ended up having slightly hard ingredients, well, my pasta sauce is mainly different types of vegetables...

the worse thing is... which I've often forgotten, my sink is too small for such a big wok, therefore washing it, becomes a chore... yes, I actually like cleaning up dishes, just like I like doing my launderette,

washing my vision pots are easy, and what more to say, glassware (maybe some of you will disagree) is so much more easier than washing any other types of cookwares...

so, after my FIRST attempted (again) session with my wok, now, it's back to the cold storage...

and I've finally decided that I'm not a wok person,

it's just too painful to use, and I can't really cook nicely with it...

oh, in fact, I took it out, cos, I thought I want to do a nicely fried egg, and next day, nicely fried fish...

but then, in the end, the supposed nicely fried egg is not that nice (not the perfect sunny side up and whatsoever) and guess what,

the next day, I used back my IKEA 365 flat bottom fry pan to fry my fish...

che...! it turned out just nice... well, as what I did is shallow fry, so, my fish/egg is never really THAT crispy as those fried with more oil...

and after that,

today, I'm back to using my vision pots, vision cookware, to boil soup (the chinese way) or even I used it to cook/simmer pasta sauce or whatever stewed food,

all turned out nice, and just right...

vision, vision, all the way!

Never wok again!

Belly Button

last night, she kept bugging me about her belly button,
asked, “why we have belly button?”
asked, “why there's dirt on the belly button?”
she kept asking, till I suspected something, and I asked her if she and her friends in the school, talked about it,
if anybody asked her to show it to them, or show theirs to her?
She said “nope”,
but then, she said, ya, they talked about it, 3 of them, those who sit at the same table,
so, I asked her, “then, what do you say about the dirt on the belly button?”
she said, she called it, “belly button eye shadows”.... haha, that's funny!


ya... as 2 weeks ago, her school had their concert and graduation day, though she ended up crying, as she waited too long at the backstage, just for 1 performance (while the bigger kids have more than 1 performance)... but then, she obviously enjoyed the day...
it's a tiring day...
and she definitely loved putting make-up... a very girly thing huh???


ya... back to the belly button topic...
so, she kept talking about it still, then, I warned her not to put her finger in there to dig dig dig out the dirt... I told her, I'll clean up for her...
then, I took out the alcohol swap that we've purchased since she was born, ie. 4 years plus ago, haha!!! I took that out and swap for her, well... that's what the hospital did for me when I went to give birth... ghee... ^_^


anyway... I reckon, she's going to ask me more difficult questions soon... you know what I mean? Haha...


however, since many nights ago, I guess, since we started having bedtime prayer... she's started this Q&A session,
she'll ask me how many questions she can ask for that day...
then, she'll ask questions like,
“why we blink?”
“why we can read?”
“why our hand can write?”
bla bla bla...
one of those kiddy questions that she's asked is, “why the fan can rotate and not feel giddy?”, cos, we told her not to spin herself too much, later she'll feel giddy...
such and such...


cheers

and just now at night, she's trying all her best to delay the process of going to bed, EVEN THOUGH she's tired (as usual!), as she's reading in the bed on the floor, ok, HE read for her, then, she lied down there instead of coming to the big bed, so, we're saying to her, why not she just sleep on that floor bed... again, usually, she'll just whine, and say “no no no!”, then, most likely come with a cry, but today, she answered properly, she said “no, afterwards, I want to look for mama, how?”... again, I didn't see that coming... ^_^ well... that shows... she's grown up, a little bit more, again... ^_^

and this girl? She's pretty good in “answering back”, in a kiddish and cute way, ^_^, see, this afternoon, I was complaining, “why's there so many things on the floor?” ya... I guess, all parents experienced the same thing, after you clean, it gets messy again, pretty quickly... then, she suddenly give me this answer, “I'm sorry, mama, you just have to live with it! Cos, you've to kids at home!”, ok... honestly, I didn't see that coming... usually when I was grumbling, or complaining, she'll keep quiet, scared that I'll target her, but today... I laughed, and I actually said “thank you” to her...

oh! must take note of these cute things that gabu did... see... last night he vomited, right? So, I did a temp cleaning of our bedsheet, ie. I didn't change the bedsheet, rather... I just wiped it with some damp cloth, and put some talcum on top of it... ok, it's in the middle of the night, I don't feel like changing bedsheet, that's what a lazy person will do, ^_^;; I didn't know that, he observed this part of the “cleaning process”, it's his vomit, SON! This morning, when he got out of bed, as usual, I lazed in bed for a while, it's really not easy... I mean, not easy for me, ^_^ to have the bed, all for myself, normally I get to have this “luxury” on weekends... so, when I was lying in bed, as usual, madeleine went to on her music player, listen to her favourite barney's songs and so on, and this gabu, he went to take that bottle of talc, brought it to the bed, right in front of me, copied all my action last night, ie. Pretend to sprinkle the talcum on the bed, and use his little hand to spread... that's pretty... cute! ^_^