Ip Man

After watching the movie, Ip Man, I said, “I enjoyed the movie.”
My eldest son retorted, “But there is no quotable quote.”
I replied, “Well, I liked it when he said, ‘There is no such thing as being afraid of one’s wife, only RESPECT.’”
The next day, I suddenly recalled a funny exercise (a physical exercise for the physically challenged) my wife taught us. It so happened that this son was just beside me. I asked him to do the exercise. He promptly followed my instructions which was quite unusual given his character. It was so funny to see a lanky fellow like him doing that exercise but I had had to put up a straight face.
At the fourteen count (my wife said that the exercise is to be repeated fourteen times), my son sprang up to me, our faces almost touching each other and said cheekily, “There is no such thing as being afraid of my father, only RESPECT.”
Both of us broke into spontaneous laughter.

Keeping Toman as pets

About two months ago, my son was drying his school shoes on the window sill and one of the shoes dropped into my fiber glass ‘pond’. The freak accident decimated my ‘colony’ of shrimps and with it my pride and joy. The last time something like that happened was many years ago when my wife’s orchid dropped into the same pond. The pesticide in the pot of orchid killed almost everything in the pond, notably my daughter’s school of guppies.
A perpetual optimist that I am, I see it as an opportunity to start something new, something different. I decided to keep snakehead fish or Toman. They are well known for being hardy. I have always enjoyed watching a particular Toman in NP pond (outside NP Convention Centre). Every time, I pass by the garden, I would detour and try to look for it.
My good friend, Quek SK, bought me three snakehead and they have been with me for one week already. I am very happy with them for they are such active swimmers bring much life to my pond. I have no qualm about eating them when they are bigger but my family protests to no ends.

Comment from Quek SK:
In America Toman is a pest not pet.
You have foresight. Spore is trying to reduce food imports thru fish farming.
If every household do what you do Spore can be self sufficient in food.
This morning I saw a toman at BT hawker aquarium fish shop.
About 2.5 inch.
Best Regards, qsk

Update:
My wife booted the snake-head fishes out of the house after they gave my children nightmares. The Tomans swam in the middle section of the water. They were not interested in surface food like flaks or worms at the bottom of the pond. The only food they went for were other fishes. The way they attacked other fishes was so vicious that it upset my wife and that sealed their fate as well.
There goes my Toman dinner.

Project Nutz 2009 (24 July)

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By now, you would have probably heard that we were beaten to second place in the Project Nutz 2009. Even so, we can hold our head high. Four out of the seven original first team runners could not make it this year for one reason or another.
We refused to be brow beaten. We kept faith in our division. We dug deeper to unearth the hidden gems. With efforts from different quarters, we managed to gather not one but two teams to compete in the race. The made shift team of Chew Jing Yuan, Ong Teck Soon, Ong Meng Tiong, Lim Hock Chuan, Low Chee Kin, Tan Wei Lian and Ng Kee Wan (in running order) ran their hearts and lungs out and better last year record with a timing of 39’ 12”.
Team 1 was built on the foundation of the second team which played a very important role of providing a safety net. We are also very happy to note that an ECE student team led by Chun Yang, ex-President of ECE Society, came in seventh while Cai Yin from AE came in fourth with the Dragon Boaters in their respective categories.
Special thanks to Dr Lim, Nancy, Peng Guan and Kok Fai for coming down to support us. Last but not least, the members of the team 2: Yang Chee Yun, Hang Kim Yam, Hee Juay Jiunn, Teo Tat Lee, Chia Yong Poo, Goh Lay Kuan and Ng Beng Kiat.

Game and Simulation for Learning

Yesterday evening, my wife and I attended a talk on “Game and Simulation for Learning” at the Singapore Science Centre. We were very impressed with a Lego game called “Replica” which went something like this: teams were to make replicas of a model using Lego Bricks. The fastest and most accurate replica wins.
Each team was made up of a builder, 2 architects and an observer. The architects will have their hands behind their back throughout the game and gave verbal instructions to the builder. Only the architects were allowed to see the model which was hidden in a box and then ran to the builder to give him the instructions to build. They can run to and fro the model as often as they want.
On our way home, we thought it would be a good idea to try it on our children. We had a good laugh over what might happen: our youngest boy, WK, would end up as the builder. The brother would give instructions at motor speed, frustrating both of them in the process. The girl would have tripped over herself trying to communicate 3-D ideas and they would end up screaming and crying over it.
Today, after lunch, we got them to do play the game anyway. As expected, WK was nominated as the builder. Being a systematic fellow, he started to arrange his pieces according to shapes and sizes while the other two discussed on the strategy. They played the game with a lot of fun and laughter. No drama, nothing like what we had imagined. They certainly deserved more credit that we had given them.
We all had a good laugh when we discovered that the replica’s color was the mirror image of the original. I supposed it has to do with how we communicate. While it is good manner to talk face to face, it adds to the confusion of whose perspective you are talking about, that is, my left or your left. I think it might be better if the architect goes behind the builder and gives the instructions from there.

Learning Point: Different people use different ways to describe the same thing, for example, imagine a circle and below it is a triangle. Both shapes are about the same size and the circle is just touching the apex of the triangle. Some people will say the triangle is in front of the circle while others will say that it is to the south of the circle.

The meaning of our communication is the response that we get. If someone is agitated at what you said, it is not her fault; it is what you said that made her so.

Pick your own durians

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I have had 3 days of wind in my face and sun on my back in Pulau Ubin (Granite Island). My family stayed from 15-17 June ’09, in Ubin Lodge, currently the only public chalet on the island. We spent our time cycling, fishing, visiting NPark gardens and durian hunting/eating.
Let me share with you a little secret: here is where you find the cheapest local durian in Singapore. To top it all, the durians are fully organic – no pesticide and no synthetic fertilizer.
If you are adventurous, you can even pick your own durians. The best times for the pickings are during the early mornings and 5-6pm in the evenings.
By the way, wild boars love durians too. After their feastings, all you find are empty durian empty shells laid out neatly under the trees. They eat the flesh and seeds whole.
Durian picking, like fishing, is best to learn from an old hand. I learnt from Uncle William, the caretaker of Ubin Lodge, that the stub of the fruit should be just one section if it had dropped naturally and not prematurely because of strong wind or other factors. The fruit should also have a fragrant smell otherwise it is not ripe. The rambutans are ripening very soon, I could hear them calling me.

Man of Little Faith

My family would jog or skate along the Sunset Canal during the evenings as part of the family ritual. As the children prefer to skate, they would finish their rounds much faster and go home on their own leaving behind the two old folks.
Today was no different except that it started to drizzle when my wife and I started to make our way home. My wife turned to me and said, “Do you think the children will bring us umbrella?”
I said without hesitation, “Dan gu gu.” (wait long long in Hokkien)
Just when it was about to pour, we saw a lanky figure running towards us with two umbrellas. Our son came to save us from being drenched. I felt ashamed that I have so little faith in my children.

The power of rubber band

A friend of mine shared with me this little trick: Tie a rubber band around a cup and ants will not climb up the cup anymore! According to him, it works like magic. He had seen ants circling his 'banded' cup and none would climb up. I wonder why?
Do you have any such tricks to share, especially against cockroaches and lizards?