Happy Teachers' Day... NOT!

Okay, so Little Miss is in primary school. Last year, during Teachers' Day, she didn't get her teacher anything, despite her teachers getting all the kids Happy Mother's Day cards for their moms. I didn't want to force feed something to my kid without them understanding what it's all about, so what I did was explain to her what the day is all about. She didn't look too convinced, so I didn't want to make her do something blindly, not understanding what it means. So, no gifts and what not that year.

This year, I think she kinda got the hang of Teachers' Day. Actually, she caught on kinda quick last year, after seeing her friends and seniors getting gifts for the teachers. She said something to that effect. It might also be peer pressure, and my kid just didn't wanna be left out, so I decided, what the heck, let's just get the teachers something anyways, cos they are doing an awesome job with the kids.

So fast forward to this week. Monday, no school, cos the school had their annual Sports Day over the weekend. Tuesday, Little Miss got fever, so no school for her then either. Wednesday was when she went to school. Coincidentally, Wednesday, 16 June, is Teachers' Day. I've already bought the Teachers' Day gift earlier, so I told Little Miss to bring them to school on Wednesday.

I got back home that Wednesday evening, lo and behold, the whole dang bag of Teachers' Day gifts was at home. I asked Little Miss what happened, she said, the teachers told her to wait until Friday to give the gifts cos that's when the school is having their Teachers' Day celebration.

Oh, okay. 

Wait. Hold up a minute. 

What. The. Fuck?

Really, I don't mind them having the one day celebration thing. To be honest, I actually remember the days when we used to have that at school, where we'll have performances, the teachers will sing the 'Kami Guru Malaysia' song, the HM reading the Education Minister's speech -- all of that and more, so I get it. But never could I understand why is it they feel necessary to tell a 7-year-old girl to take back a bag full of her gifts of appreciation for her teachers because she wanted to give her on the God-damned wrong day? Seriously? SERIOUSLY? WHAT THE FUCK?

Okay fine, hadiah aku beli tak de lah grand sangat. Benda bongok je pun. Mug. The kind yang ada roses tu.  Biasa je. Less than RM5 pun to be honest. But when I showed them to Little Miss, her eyes lit up, like they were the most awesomest thing she could give her teachers. So I decided there and then that money for those mugs were money well spent. Tapi, bila Little Miss nak bagi, dan cikgu kata, eh, tak boleh bagi hari ni, bagi hari lain, kau rasa apa yang aku rasa bila aku dengar dia cerita macam tu? Little Miss looked like she always does when she told me that, but all the while I was thinking, whatthefuck, whatthefuck, whatthefuck? 

Haih. I don't knowlah. Do you think I am overreacting? Rileklah, suruh bagi hari Jumaat, bagi Hari Jumaatlah. What's the big deal kalau kau kena suruh bagi hari Jumaat pun. Thing is, pada aku, tak patut jadi pun benda cam tu. Kalau dia nak bagi hari ni, biaq pi kat dia la. Yang hangpa nak paksa jugak bagi hari Jumaat pasepa. Susah sangat ka kalau dia nak bagi hari Rabu tu?

Seriously. I dunno lah why these people are like this.

What happened to teachers like this lady?

extra prescription. yes, the Teddy Stallard story is fiction, I know. But what's more important is that I actually know of teachers who are like that in real life, so there.

Kids, Magic and Harry Potter

The best times of my life these days seems to be those that I spent being silly with these two kids who call me Mama. We watch TV most of the time, last night it was Despicable Me. Tonight it's a marathon of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and now, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I swear Lil Hero was slightly buzzing calling out for his big sis who left the room for a bit as Harry Potter was starting... And oh yeah, I have introduced Harry Potter to my kids, who are 7 and 3 respectively. Lil Hero, who is 3, can recognise the Harry Potter theme at the first few notes. Lil Miss, who's 7, can name 2/3 of the characters in the movies. I will introduce the book soon to her, I hope. Ah, now back to the magical world of Harry Potter with the kids.

What Did You Share with Your Child Today?

Text reads:
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway
- Mother Theresa

Painful

Sometimes, you just met somebody and you thought, "Hey, this person is cool. We clicked. We would be totally awesome friends."

And you think, being awesome friends with each other constitutes doing absolutely all the random, funny things that got you attracted to that new awesome friend in the first place. Because you think that you are also awesome that way.

Turns out you're not.

Talk about awkward.

Talk about painful to watch.

Image Source

extra prescription. Don't mind the nonsensicaliciousness (it's not a word, I know, but then again, neither is refudiate, and look where that word got her) of this post, I was just venting off some steam. And no, the entry is not about me, it's about something in the vicinity.

extra prescription, if you take this you'll be on an overdose. little Miss is going for her orientation tomorrow. Already I have request from as far London for pictorial evidence. The Hubs is lucky if I don't break down and cry in front of all the teachers and the parents. And the kids. Haih.

Little Miss and her Youtube Obsession

Little Miss is 6. She has a Facebook account and she surfs Youtube. Yes, we monitor her and yes, we have filters set on our PC. She plays games on Facebook. Pet Society, Farmville, Countryville, Petville, Yoville and a host of other games she explores herself. I kid you not. The only game I taught her to play was Pet Society.

You see, she caught me playing Pet Society and whenever Mama was not looking, she would play my Pet Society on my Facebook account. This I don't mind. What I do mind was when she began to post nonsensical, unintelligible status update. So I opened her a gmail account and set up her Facebook account specifically for playing Pet Society. Little did I know that she managed to explore the plethora of other games available. Now, her wall is inundated with numerous "Help me plant my trees" or "Find my pet for me" or "Help me build a stronger sorority" (What in the world? I know!)

From Facebook and Facebook games, little Miss now has ventured into Youtube. She has not figured out how to use the webcam to shoot videos yet, so she's not uploading videos (yet). But she watches tonnes of videos, mostly songs or music video clips on her own. From time to time, you can hear her singing to Wondergirls' Nobody or Little Mermaid's Under the Sea. Okay, I admit, I may have started this obsession as well, because I was the one who showed her how to access Youtube and searched for videos. Once upon a time, not so quite long ago, I opened the Dancing Queen video from Mamma Mia! so we can dance and sing along, just for fun, and I guess she's hooked on it since.

So this is one of her favourite songs at the moment. And like it or not, little Hero is hooked on it to.



"If you cannot sing then hum along!"

So there.

ps. BTW, did you know that Amy Adams was on Smallville once upon a time? I LOVE HER!

The Little Miss Grows Up #001

Family time looms ahead. It's the school holidays finally for the little Miss, who 'graduated' from her kindy last Saturday. She was kinda bewildered. When I asked her if there's anyone else she wants to take photos with, she just shook her head no, saying let's just eat and take photos later at school. I told her she won't be going to the kindy anymore next year, she looks at me wide-eyed, asked in a semi-horrified voice,"But why?" Like maybe, she did something wrong. Like maybe, she was EXPELLED. From her kindy. ZOMG!

I explained to her, you're going to big girl's school next year. The school we bought the uniforms for. The school we bought you the flowery school bag for (Oy vey, that shopping adventure, I tell you! Nightmare!). This seems to settle her down -- Okay, so we're still going to school, just a different school, right? Ohkay...

Then I explained again, Teacher Janice won't be there anymore. Alisha won't be there, Arfah won't be there, Danish won't be there, Farid Aiman won't be there. All your friends won't be there (please don't imagine the Grinch while reading that, I was not trying to scare the little Miss, I was trying to explain the situation to her). She just looked at me quizzically and nodded.

I looked at the hubs and he was busy eating.

*sobs*

Little Miss is growing up.

Mission Kinda Possible : Find a School Bag

Little Miss will be schooling next year. Big girl school. Primary school. Being the oldest, she's the guinea pig she wished she never was (at least I think that's what she thinks).

We kinda had a plan on how many uniforms to get for her (2 baju kurungs, 2 pinafores, 3 blouses). But of course, being youngest in my family, older sibs and mak told me to get only the barest essenstials possible. Little Miss will grow up quickly, they say. She won't fit in the small bajus anymore in a very short period of time. For me, little Miss is little. She can still fit into tees meant for 3 year old, bajus half her age. Of course, the length of the bajus are a different story altogether, but let's not get there. All I'm saying is that, she's small for her age, but she's tall.

So one fine day, the hubs had the day off. We decided we'll go shop for her school stuff that day. So off we went to this huge-ass shopping mall in the middle of the muddle that is KL.

So we got the bajus, I actually wanted to get cheaper ones, cos this is a kid we're talking about. Little Miss will probably outgrow them before we know it (okay, so I said something different in the earlier para, I am in denial, in case you haven't noticed. I want little Miss to stay a three year old forever, boleh?). But the hubs being the hubs wanted to get the top of the line ones. Lucky he didn't whisk us off to Proffessors. So we got something, I dunno, maybe second or third ranked brand for uniforms for little Miss. We got her two of each, two baju kurungs and two pinafores with blouses and two pairs of shoes.

Okay, where's the bloody checklict? Uniforms - checked. Shoes - checked. Socks - checked.

Further explorations resulted in chemise and some shorts. And oh yeah, some PE pants. Okay, checked, checked, checked.

The only thing left then was her school bag. Okay, so the general consensus from family members and friends, school bags are mostly useless. You might as well go and get the ones from Mydin cos if those bags become unwearable in like, 2 weeks of schooling, it's a cheapo bag that you can just throw away. If you get the ones with all the bells and whistles, or in the case of schoolbags of the 21st century, wheels and pull handles, it'll cost a bomb and it will most probably go useless within months of schooling.

I was already disheartened knowing this. I wanted to get her something cool for her schoolbag. I didn't want her first big girl school bag to be an outdated bag, the kind I had to use when I was a kid (usually mak would give me her UMNO meeting bags, I didn't mind actually, but others had way cooler bag, like Jem and Barbie. Didn't exactly feel left out, but it was kinda one of my childhood wish, so there). So the hubs and I spent a few shopping trips prior to this one trying to find an okay-ish compromise for the little Miss' first big girl school bag. We finally found one reasonably-priced and PINK backpack at Tearproof in Midvalley Megamall. Yippee-ky-yay-oh!

So that day, the day we took little Miss shopping for her school stuff, while looking for her uniforms, she saw a few school bags also on display in the area. She has got her sight set on one school bag. It's the over-priced wheeled contraption I swore I would never ever buy for my kids. It probably had Barbie or Powerpuff Girls or Strawberry Shortcake on it, which explained why little Miss was so enthralled by it. No way Jose, Missy, Mama ain't gettin' you that bag.

So we dragged her tiny behind to Tearproof thinking we can make her like the PINK Bodypac backpack. Haha, noob parents, THINK AGAIN SUCKAZ. The little Miss stood there shaking her head (eh, eh budak ni, menurun degil sapa ini?). Okay, so fine, we tried taking her to Tropicana Life (ZOMG, yes, she's going to Standard 1, pakai beg Tropicana Life? Sorry, for the life of me, I pun tak sure what possessed me to do that). Little Miss pointed to a bag. It was purple, okay, girl colour. But it had skulls on them. Not cutesy Avril Lavigne skulls, but the Pirates of Caribbean crossed swords as part of the design. By now, I realized little Miss was giving us a lesson in how stubborn she could be. By choosing stuff that she KNOWS mama and papa will not approve of, mama and papa will know THEY ARE WRONG. Wow, my six year old the manipulator. Today, I will conquer Standard One. Tomorrow, the world, bwahahahahaha!!!

But at that time, instead of reveling on how diabolical little Miss has become that day, I became angry. I told her, "Kakak, if you don't choose a bag now, you will have to bring your Smart Reader backpack yang dah koyak-koyak tu." She replied, without missing a beat, "OK." Goddammit, I am being outsmarted by a six year old! I marched her out of the store (Tropicana Life, remember?) and marah-marah the hubs (actually more like venting to him, "kakak ni ha tak nak pilih bag yang elok," bla bla bla). The hubs was like yea yea yea, malas nak layan. Haiz. What is wrong with this family???

Tired and angry and partially hungry, we decided to leave the bag-finding adventure for another day and made our way back to the carpark. On the way there, lo and behold, I saw this tacky , girly pink shop, Miss T or something. We went in, I am not sure what for, maybe I was just pushing my luck, to look for little Miss' bag. Near the back of the store there was this one white bag with flowers all over them. Maybe she really did like the bag or maybe she was tired of being bullied by mama (or is it the other way around?), little Miss said, "yes mama, I like the bag, please get me the bag." I looked at the hubs, but the bag is white, macam mana ni? Cepat lah kotor nanti... But then again, we discussed that the bag will get kotor any which way pun, unless we got her a black bag, which I doubt she will use and I will buy for her. So okay, we finally got her a bag, which cost us RM39.90, RM0.10 cheaper than the RM40 PINK Bodypac backpack we saw in Tearproof.

Lesson learned? Little Miss has a mind of her own.