kid talk

I dont brag about it but i am immensely proud of my two year old's growing voabulary. of course, most words come out rather weakly enunciated - but hey, the guys' only TWO!
He just got up from his nap and snapped out of his drpwsy stupor when he heard the whirr of blades! His favourite guys around the neighbourhood are near....those noisy grass-cutters. if he was wearing a kilt he would have hitched them as he scurried tot he window, saying 'hurry, hurry'..
wait a minute. i taught my son 'hurry'? o dear...here am i, convinced life is going by too fast, making deliberate efforts to slow down -- and my son is saying 'hurry!!!'. Hm.
i hope life values transcend vocabulary.

speaking of kids, a young lady was visiting with me and since she is involved in sociological research, i eagerly asked if she knew what contributed to the fact that young children and even infants in Singapore go to bed at hours that defy logic. i have actually seen less than year-old children being carried home, wide-eye at 11pm, probably after the day at grand's or nanny's !
My question is: we are subjecting our kids to our work schedule. In Singapore work comes first really....

happy NEW? year ?

Hands up, those who feel like 2008 has been more of 2007. Today, i just felt somewhat disappointed at the continuity of life. Yesterday is somehow still around. So, I took a deep breath and considered the reasons:
1. some things go on
i guess this is something we must accept and embrace. Some things wont be new just because we plastered up a really swanky or inspirational screen saver on our computers. Such as my daughter's tendency to forgetfulness as she yaks away...i blistered and blustered at how she could misplace and totally not recall...but, she is still her! Perhaps somewhere, with all my grand ideas of change and renewal, i forget that!
2. some things will fade off
perhaps there are still lingering things from 07 that need to be cleared..eventually, the newer things will arrive....
3. some things call for deliberate make-overs
well, if we want 08 to be different from 07; we need to get specific. some things will clearly call for decisive and disciplined effort (such as that exercise plan).
4. some things will catch us by surprise
ah, life is more than happenstance; but there are times things simply -- happen! For me, it was meeting a divorcee whom i somehow care for; and somehow, that took a good deal of my emotional energy. So i had to review my energy management and consider my options..perhaps i am seeking to be more than i am called to be.

Silly me, I am in a new year, after all. There is much to accept afresh, anticipate, celebrate and expect.

the fridge repairman's corner of the world

My really new refrigerator's ice-making capacity broke down. instead of nice cubes of ice timbling down, my ice tray sheeted over (too bad it's only large enough for a hamster to skate on). So, i had to call the repairman. I had figured that since the ice still formed, but it came out in a sheet; it had to be the hidden-from-sight ice-tray up to no good. True enough, without enough dismantling the device, the repairman plainly said to me that the tray has been hit and is broken. He had appeared at my door with a small defined box under his arm.

me: wah, looks like this is a common fault
frm: it is lah. people put coke cans and stuff so the ice tray bangs and breaks lor
me: how come cannot just replce the broken tray?
frm: the whole thing comes together. u keep the old thing lah in case one day you can use it again.

In under five minutes, he took out the entire device - the size of a small shoe box - replaced it and was writing me a receipt for nearly one hundred and forty dollars!
The we spoke some more:

me: u guys are paid a fixed salary is it? [i am thinking, how to be paid any other way if this is how things are fixed]
frm: yes, nowadays, everything is quite ...module. it's not like last time. even a plasma TV, usually you have to replace the whole part.
me: no need to really troubleshoot.
frm: i pity the old guys, today even a belanga (a chinese slang for an indian national) can do it - just have to know the part only.
me: yes i remember the old days, the TV repairman took out this whole board and was testing the tiny bulb bits..
frm: nowsadays, no need lah. all the training wasted.

by now, he is at the door, has his shoes on, and turns to leave as i wish him well.

I thought i saw something in his eyes. A sort of sadness that life has become so 'easy'. I wonder what it meant to a man's pride --when machines design things by portions and he cannot creatively resolve a problem. A bit of dumbing down is happening here - in our very progressive world!
And yes, pity the older generation who rightly bemoans that it is they who know the real stuff.