papa, sing..

Heard black eyed peas feat jack johnson on the radio with “gone, going”. Quite good. Jack Johnson has nice vocals. I saw another video on mtv “upside down” and it was pretty nice as well.
officially hate the keith urban song.. its really irritating.

theson's fav song currently is "we will rock you"...

59th floor

My sis was back last Thursday for a short holiday and she left on Sunday afternoon. Theson is always happy to see her. Anyway, she just got a new job on the 59th floor on the 2tower in the capital and got a raise as well. She now earns more than me. And she still wants 2.5million if we ever win the 10million lottery. It actually started at 500k but somehow increased to 2.5mil.
She spent the whole weekend watching “Charmed” taped by my dad on the vcr.
the whole family went for a bbq-steamboat dinner on sat night. It was an all you can eat and eat we did. (Or I did) quite a lot of variety and i was busy bbq-ueing the squid.

Something happened to the transformer yesterday at the office. Heard that it blew up or something and so we in the office were bombarded by a constant hum of the backup gen. The air seems stuffy as well.. Not sure if its the aircon or the fumes from the backup gen. It seems the backup gen are right next to the aircon and due to the heat it generates, it keeps tripping the circuit and the aircon keeps having to be restarted. :-P

Word from theson.. pt1

- beckham
unfortunately this was the 1st word that he learned. We have no idea if its related to david. I hope not…

- lizard
He’s been saying this word for quite a while already as well and the lizard is like his “best friend” as well. He’ll actually chase the lizard or get thegranpa to carry him while he tries to touch it or whack it with the newspaper. thesons eyes are very sharp and can spot these critters hiding behind clocks, pictures, etc.

- come on, come on
he’ll will actually tap you in an encouraging way and say this. Also from counting crows “accidentally in love” and “a little less conversation” elvis remix which he can sing the “come-on, come-on” parts. Not sure how he figured out the tapping part though.

- pizza hut
pizza huuuut…. He can actually say this and drag the “hut” part just like in the tv ad. Has modified this to say “lizard” as well.

- family members
he can name all family members but will never call them when he sees them unless prodded. He will always call out the names only when we’ve left their house. For example, theson started calling my sister before he went to bed, hours after she left the island.

- barney
Need to say more?

- elmo
Need to say more?

red-prawn

Durian season is here. thewife just bought the ang-heh (red-prawn) variety for me from the market…Yummy. My favorite but it was $14 for 1 though. (wiki:durian if you want to know more)
I’m going home today to eat it during lunch.… I prefer all the yellow flesh variety as its much sweeter but they can get quite expensive sometimes for the higher grade ones (D-something or red-something).
you’re not supposed to eat too much, though … or you will literally be sick. And you can put on weight very fast as well. (thewife ate alot when she was pregnant with theson)
The smell doesn’t bother me as I’m not very smell-oriented. More taste-oriented, which is good, so I’ll be enjoying myself.
I remember taking a counterpart from the states to eat durian, and he bit into the seed and started chewing it vs just sucking the flesh off the seed. That was hilarious. I remember what he said very clearly when I asked his how it was, he said it was like “sucking honey though a smelly sock”.

thewife is on leave for the next 2weeks so I believe lunch will be provided as well. Yay…!!!
Shepherds pie anytime soon? Hmmm…. i can only hope..

dumplings round2

Its actually off-season for making dumplings (chang) but since the audit has just finished, thewife just completed her 2nd round of dumpling production last Friday. (1st round was completed 3weeks ago and delivered to close family members already)
Unfortunately, the duck egg yolks went bad so no eggs for 2nd round. 15 completed for the 2nd batch. At last count, thewife had 4 already, me ate 1, 4 going to my sis, 2 to thepooh for help rendered. (Thepooh is the only non-family priviledged to receive the dumpling as she actually helped thewife crunch a lot of data during the audit. so she deserves a few)
Thewife actually said she felt old when she told my friends (last Friday during lunch) that she knew how to make dumplings and realized that shes the only one in the whole table that knew how to do it. well, i told her that i'm proud of her skill though as i get to eat it every other year and besides, the rest of my friends never had the chang-heritage passed down from their families anyway. thewife has been helping her mum make dumpling since she was a kid and i think she'll be passing down this skill to theson when he's old enough. maybe i should learn too.

from last friday..june 23 ..

Opened my eyes this morning to the sound of theson “mewing”. Hes up at 630am today.. 630AM..!!!!!!!
My sis, who arrived from the capital last nite, was sleeping in the living room (the spare room is a mess.. whatever..) and anyway, thewife redirected theson outside to bug theaunt instead. Bought us a few more minutes of shuteye.
Went out to lunch with a few friends, thewife and my sis. I had some chicken pita pocket thingie and thewife had the thai fried spaghetti. Food was so-so but the company was good. It has actually been months since i last met up with my “old” friends and it was good to have eat with people who are non-family and non-office. We chatted and did the normal catching up.
they normally do the movie thing every friday night and i'm reluctant to join them as :
-thewife may be working on friday nights and no one to take care of theson
-i already dont spend enough time with thewife
need to strike a balance. maybe i'll do breakfast or lunch with them instead... we'll see..
or, as i normally say to them "see you guys next quarter..."

rootbeer pt1

Spied 1 last can of rootbeer still hidden in the back of the fridge.
should i keep it a secret and drink the last can of rootbeer all by myself? (evil maniacal laugh....)
or,
should i tell thewife and share the last can with her?
decisions, decisions...

england in, holland out

England faced off with ecuador yesterday night and as usual england played like crap. They’ve been like this for every single match and won out of luck. Really. and I no longer support them.
I mean, are these the same people playing in the premier league? What the heck..!!?? Can’t you guys even kick the ball properly? maybe i'm wrong. someone please correct me and show me the error of my ways? please....
I really wanted them to lose last night but beckham actually pulled thru for them and won 1-0. Lucky bastards. Well they’ll probably get killed anyway when they play Portugal next.
Portugal…sigh.. they kicked out Holland yesterday 1-0. I really wanted Holland to go in to the next round but it looks like they got bested. Too bad..
Germany faces off argentina in a few days time. That will be the match to watch.

i wonder if coach sven is looking for a new job..

Odds/Ends

Subway is opening soon on the island. Finally, after years of waiting. Though I believe it will not last more than 1 year. Business will be good at the start but I believe may not be able to sustain long. i hope they prove me wrong. Well, anyway 1 year shud be enough to satisfy my sandwich hunger. Still no dunkin donuts or chillis or o’briens though. 1901 hotdogs still rules...

Hardly played PC games anymore. No more time for RPGs. Cant remember the last time or last game I played. Fortunately, increased my rate of reading though. Reread eaters of the dead last week and still enjoyed it eventhough it was the 2nd time. trying to finish eldest. and i have the firm and rising sun waiting for me next.

We took theson to Singapore for a holiday last year and every once in a while when we drive by a certain T-junction back here on the island, he’ll say “Singapore”. Still cant figure out exactly what’s triggering the memory of Spore.

Thewife has been pretty busy the last 2-3weeks with the audits. Hardly see her even in the office. See her mostly at night and in the mornings. Sigh.. I miss my wife..

mama-mia

The wife prepared prawn olio spaghetti 2 days ago(prawn+garlic+onions+mushroom+dried chillis+small chillis+bacon+olive oil) . As usual thewife did not disappoint. Even better than the one I did.She actually made a big pot and when we finished, we only had around 2 plates worth of leftovers. We were supposed to keep the leftovers for my sister but we finished it last night.
No regrets.
Thewife just has a gift with this kinds of things and can recreate recipes just by tasting it once.
Her lasagna and bolognaise are excellent as well. She still owes me a sherperds pie.
Note: Pancakes, french toast, Brownies and fruit cakes are my forte though.

2nd

did i mention that theson and i won 2nd prize in a fathers day photo competition ?
yaaay..!!
thanks to thewife for doing all the grunt work of looking thru all the photos, picking the good ones and submitting it..

68kg 6-20-06

Went to pizza hut last week and i had the prawn olio spaghetti (olive oil, prawns, garlic, onions, mushrooms, pepper). Was ok but I knew that I could do better.
Went home and the next day I recreated it minus prawns. Thewife did her version the next day minus prawns but with thinly sliced sausages. Didn’t think that it would work at 1st but it was actually quite good as well. Thewife will be doing the prawn version in a day or two and I cant wait. Yummy…
The brownies that I made 2 weeks ago are nearly finished. i originally wanted to give them to the guys in the office but I decided against it. They don’t deserved it..[:-P] and I’m greedy as well.
I really need to cut down on my food intake. I weigh around 68kg now and eventhough my BMI shows I’m ok but my gut is starting to show. And i get tired more easily these days. I need to exercise more and get fitter and eat less..
I looked at photos from when theson was just born and I realised that..
I was thin..!!!! sigh...!!

day with theson

I actually took a day off last week as thewife was in the office with the auditors and thebabysitter went back tot her hometown so I had my day with theson.
We woke up late and he had his milk. Minimized pacifier use the whole day and hardly had the tv on which was good. Played with him and his toys and gave him a banana for a pre-lunch snack.
He still seems very attached to either thewife or me depending on who’s at home. Only once in a while will he play with his toys by himself.
Took him to KFC for lunch and he had whipped potatoes, fries, milo. I had a burger and nuggets. We had a window seat and he was busy watching the rain and playing with his new KFC superman toy. And he actually sat in the babychair the whole time. He finished all his food and water. And no tantrums today. Was really proud of him.
After lunch took him into Giant and we shopped. I let him run around and he was busy looking and naming stuff that he knew. Shoe, shirt, pants, etc… took him to the vegetable/fruit section and told him what each of them is called. He already knew most of the names from his book. He was a bit squeamish about touching the kiwi though. Finally bought some doughnuts and a bowl of salad to take away.
Took him home and put him to sleep. He woke up about 2hrs later and fed him his dinner an hour later. He still prefers whipped potatoes (addicted?). He did not even want to try the salad I bought.. well, at least he ate some of the doughnuts.
Well, quite an eventful day.. but I’m pooped..

WC2006

World Cup 2006 began more than a week ago. Most of the games I watched were uneventful. England was not really performing. Germany looks like a potential for the final though, as is spain and argentina. I noticed that the referees were a bit harsh in some of the games.
Theson has also seemed to have gotten hooked on football as well. He woke up at 6am one morning asking for football. We had to turn on the tv and let him watch the repeat matches. We went straight back to sleep.
Was watching KOR vs CRO 2 nites ago when I accidentally flipped to a Victoria secret fashion show..
hmmmm… guess which channel I watched ?

3rd

did i mention thewife and theson won 3rd prize in a mothers day photo competition themed "closeness" ?
well, they did and i'm so proud.

breeding ground

note:

doctors clinics are a breeding ground for viruses/germs/bacteria etc..
we fear clinics and hospitals alike.

everytime we go in to the hospital for a routine checkup with a healthy boy,

we are almost always bound to end up with a sick little boy, 1 or 2 days later.

and we have to go back to the doctor again..

and give him more of our hard earned cash.

ironic.

stubborn toddler

theson is still very stubborn about his food.
-hates to drink milk
-hates to drink water
-hates to eat rice/noodles/mash-taters (seasonal dislikes)
not sure what else to feed him. its very stressful for thewife and me and thats why we fight most of the time. because of theson and how to handle him.
getting him to drink his milk is the worse. we're always forced to go for the distract and deceive technique. and each method will only work for so many times.
hes older now you know... and he learns pretty fast.

we even tried to distract him with a pet fish. well, it worked. for 10minutes...

well on the plus side
-he has stopped crying during doctor visits
-and well hes generally a good kid.. except for the food part..
and i love him to death.

false

yesterday, we thought theson had meningitis based on the rashes on his legs and hands and we rushed him to the hospital in panic.
my close friend once had meningococcal meningitis and he would've died if we had not sent him to the hospital. he was in the ICU for weeks and had a plastic tube up his penis. they even did a spinal tap on him as well to confirm the disease.
yea...so we were pretty paranoid.
anyway it turned out to be nothing but false measles. (wiki Roseola)
total 3 doctor visits, sleepless nights with hourly monitoring of his temperature, 2 long drives to the hospital and back and finally 120 bucks to the dear doctors. well better safe than sorry, right?

another good thing was that i made up with thewife on the way home in the car. told her that it was due time that i screwed up anyway and when she still didnt want to talk to me, i was force to use my "trump" card.
whats my trump card? well, a few days ago, i had to make 2 trips to KFC to get theson his lunch of whipped potatoes and thewife said told me to remind her of that the next time i made her mad. i wanted to keep it for a rainy day but she forced my hand. ah well... i'll probably screw up again in 2-3 weeks .. its inevitable.

measles

darn sleepy today as i had early morning and late night meetings yesterday.. feel very drained

potentially theson has measles. we are still waiting to confirm. some rash on his body but no signs of fever, cough, cold. hmmm..?
well, hes still quite active though and still very stubborn when drinking his milk/water. a real pain. and it always leads to some disagreement with thewife. always..!!!
i told her that she didnt have to raise her voice when she was berating theson when he refused to drink milk last night.
well, she hasnt talked to me since then.. sigh...
i already have so little time with her and now i waste time to "fix" this...
but is it my fault?
well, looking at historical data, it looks like it is.. :-P

limbo?

where have i been these few months? well, i've been busy and lazy as well..
datelines to meet and projects to complete.

managed to watch MI:III and xmen3 at the cinema with thewife though. quite an accomplishment, if you ask me.
haven't had time to watch any dvds as well. bought a few but thewife has been busy as well.
hmmm,.. what else happened?
took theson to fly kite and the kite crashed into the sea.
bought a new dvd burner. very nice and very fast.
downloaded tons of stuff on the home desktop.
had 5 visitors from holy land over here. quite nice people but they look very intimidating.
theson can now recognize colour & shapes, can sing "beautiful" & "bad day" and can express himself more. though he talks more cantonese/mandarin.
mothers day and wedding anninversary. no fights this time :-D
thewife said i shud hv met her 10yrs ago so that she could have enjoyed more lovemaking. :-P

predictable?

it seems that every time there is a long weekend, theson will always be sick.
this time round he had a 40'C fever on friday and saturday. got better on sunday and got worse again on monday. he didnt want to eat so we just kept forcing fluids down his throat, water and milk. had to use the suppository twice when the fever went up too high. not something i would like to do to him again.
took him to the hospital to see his paeditrician on monday. thewife was at work so i went with thebabysitter. anyway he's feeling better today.

and we reliased on sunday night that we had missed a wedding dinner the night before. my degree-mate was getting married. :-P
i'm tired as hell..