Fatherhood Reflections XV - Guilt-trippin'

Last night brought the kids to see toys and actually bought them some toys. 

Then they get so caught up playing at the kiddie cars hat they forgot all about their toys.

So when we were going home I deliberately hid the toys in the backseat and waited for them to remember about said toys.

When they started asking for it, I feigned surprise that I didn't know where they were! It must've been left behind at the shopping center!

Oh no!

Cue very sad silence throughout the entire car ride.

Finally, when we reached home, the boy asked,

"Papa, Monday we wake up and go to school then after school can we go to shopping center to find out toys?"

"No. The toys won't be there anymore." I said.

Cue mega sad face.

The girl is already crying because she had left her favourite toy in school and I kept telling her it was lost forever.

I parked the car and turned on the lights and pretended to search for it to no avail. Pretended to sigh at the futility of our search in the car. The kids are still minutely hopeful yet bordering given up.

Finally we opened the door on the girl's side and she sees the plastic bag with the toys inside!

A joyous scream of the find from the girl, while the boy runs over to verify. The toys were there all along! Happiness! 

Boy and girl's moods change completely to happiness and relief. Boy kisses his new toy, calls his little sister "the best toy finder", even puts his arm around her in minor celebration. Girl is über proud of her contribution.

Kids love their new toys.

Alls well that ends well.

;)

CAIA

Towards higher learning...

Annual Staycation 2015

Our 4th consecutive year on the little island of Sentosa. This year we were once again at the W Hotel, our third year in a row.

It must be one of our better staycations, as it feels as though it flew by so fast. Day one we just chilled out at the pool for a couple of hours (really long plus drinks by the pool!), followed by a simple dinner at Brussel Sprouts along Quayside Isle. Day two we went to Universal Studios Singapore (USS) and spent almost the entire day there. Day three we had our once-a-year breakfast at Kith along Quayside Isle again.

At USS, we did a lot more things than the previous year. Most notably the number of exciting rides we took increased alot! From the Elmo space spaghetti ride, followed by the Jurassic Park flying dinosaur ride, then the Shrek 4D show, the latest Puss and the Giant ride, the Dragon Airways ride, the Madagascar boat ride and most ultimate of all, Transformers! Was really impressed by both the little rascals managing not only to survive all the rides but actually enjoying them as well!

All in all, one memorable staycation!

 

Everton 0 Manchester United 3

Great win! You know that when we win there are so many positives to be taken from the game. Here're some thoughts.

1) Rooney Is Slightly Better

But only just. Still not justifying his starting position though IMHO. At times he still looks like a passenger on the team and slowing down the team's attacking play. Good that he scored though maybe that might bring his confidence back. Could've have one or two more had he been more prolific.

2) Chris Smalling Is A Rock

What a fantastic player he's become. Not only defensively solid, he is confident going up field as well. With him in such form, it is no wonder we've been keeping so many clean sheets this season.

3) Anthony Martial Is The Real Deal

No goals, no assists, and yet you know this player is the real deal because he exudes so much confidence on the ball, he is fearless and he has the skills. Already there are highlight reels of him running by the byline and creating several chances. Pity that some of the other players couldn't keep up and help him score. Looking forward to even more  spectacular plays from him.

4) Ander Herrera Must Start

He's such a box to box player with only his defensive shortcomings limiting his appearances this season. Hopefully he makes full use of this display to cement his starting spot, which he really deserves.

5) Midfield

The midfield trio rotation continues with Schweini and Schneiderlin on today. And both were excellent. It is still a wonder that Schneiderlin didn't start the Arsenal game in which we lost the midfield battle within the opening 20mins. He should play more often than Carrick at this stage because of his energy.

Towards the top of the table!

GGMU!!!

Fatherhood Reflections XIV - Math Whiz

The boy and his smarts...

After he peeked at the wifey trying to solve this, he wanted to work it out himself.

"If apple = 7, grapes = 5 + apple, and apple = 1 + bananas, what is apple + grapes + banana?"

"Fruit salad!!!"

One of those -_-" moments...

Halloween Horror Nights 5

Wow. So much scarier this year. 

The bruises on my arm (thanks to wifey) and the quantity of screams from the her indicated that.

1) Highlights Were The Scare Houses

This year's setup was more scare-worthy and evidently more localized which I think made things more scary. There was a house set up after Russell Lee's True Singapore Ghost Stories with focus on the MRT (scariest), a 7th month Hungry Ghost paper doll house, a tunnel-themed scare house (least scary), and a SG50 zombie block (SG stands for Sentosa Gateway).

2) The Notorious HHN Queues

This is something we were quite prepared for this year. When you go mass market, get ready to queues for up to two hours just to go through at less-than-5-mins house/ride. Arm yourselves with $10 change to have beers and make sure you have good company or have your handphone fully charged. Otherwise just get the priority pass.

3) Scare Factor Is Much Better

Props were better and I think it was better staffed as well, so kudos to USS for improving things. Far more importantly, the Scare Houses and Scare Zones were much scarier this year. Not just making scares more localized, the scare houses and zones have much narrower paths now that forces groups into a bottle neck. So visitors are often forced into a single file for easier scares. Somehow the houses also were more elaborate and longer too, which made the experience more memorable. End of the day it felt more worthwhile after having queued an hour when coming out of a scare house. I personally saw a lot more boys and girls freaking out after being frightened.

See last year's review here.

Was a huge blast this year! Definitely going on another hot date with the wifey for HHN6!

Comics World And Absolute Comics

Visited one of the last remaining Western comics shops still surviving in Singapore today.

It's quite sad that all these shops are going out of business. Print media is really going the way of the dinosaur.

I remember as a teen I was collecting comics, trading cards and Magic:The Gathering cards left right and center. Still have a lot of them in mint condition.

Even bought my first comic in almost 20 years!

Watching The Sunrise

Woke up super duper early today to make the effort to clock in some much needed exercise. Sometimes the little things like watching the sun rise makes the effort so rewarding.

A New Resolution

Given my poor investing performance this year, I have made a new resolution from today.

I will NOT invest my funds in any products or asset classes anymore UNTIL I have accumulated $10,000 in cash savings in each of my four savings accounts.

Only funds from offloaded holdings or dividends will be allowed for channelling into invesments.

I will update the blog again when this target has been reached.

Good luck to me.