Are you a Motormouth?

What is a motormouth? It is someone who talks incessantly. But the definiton was changed slightly for the TV show: Motormouth USA. It was shown on Singapore TV not so long ago. Here's how it works: It catches people who sing in their car when they thought nobody was listening? The producers take to the streets, traveling the country two cities at a time, in search of America's "most entertaining" singers and most outrageous drivers.

In Round One, they catch unsuspecting drivers singing alone. In Round Two, these clueless crooners are joined by their friends, who set them up-encouraging their singing and ridiculous behavior. In round three, they ambush these dashboard divas and reveal that they have been caught singing on national television. In each town they choose the number one Motormouth and at the end of each episode, these two local loudmouths square off as they crown that episode's Ultimate Motormouth.

It was really entertaining and hilarious watching them.

My daughter thinks I should be on motormouth. Why? Because I love to sing along with the radio in the car.

"How come you know all the songs?" she would ask me.

I dont!! Some how, lyrics and tunes tend to stick in my head. I can sing along - but if you were to ask me for the title or singer, I have no clue. I simply enjoy singing along - it makes a journey less boring, it keeps me occupied, and when I am singing, I drown out the arguing that takes place between the kids. Ha! With my singing, they can't get a word in. So, it's my secret weapon.

Are you a motormouth too?

Celebrating Halloween!

Halloween is a festival celebrated mainly in the Western World on 31 October. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses", pumpkin carving and viewing horror films.

We do not usually celebrate this festival, but since the children's exams had just ended, we decided to have a bit of "fear factor" fun as part of Halloween celebrations.

We had body parts to eat - eyeballs, ears, false teeth as well as worms and snakes. Fortunately for them I got the chocolate and gummy variety.

They also had some Halloween paraphenalia to wear - witches hats, hairbands with spiders, halos, devils horns, fangs, courtesy of their aunt who just came back from a vacation.

All in, we had an enjoyable time!

Are you sentimental?

"So won't you please play a song, a sentimental song
For my sentimental friend over there
We've been so long apart, make it go right to the heart
Of my sentimental friend over there
Bring the tears to her eyes, help to make her realise
The love we had was just beyond compare
Then if the time is right, maybe I'll hold her tight
My sentimental friend over there"
An extract from Herman Hermit's My sentimental friend

Just the other day, I was at the jewellers to collect something. A friend of mine was there with me. She had brought along a big bag of her gold jewellery for the jewellers to value. It was worth some $9000!!! I couldnt believe it. She had with her necklaces, rings, bangles, pendants etc .. all by the dozens. Some of them belonged to her daughter ie gold trinkets that were given to her daughter when her daughter was born. The rest were hers, some she had bought herself, others given to her by relatives during her wedding. She reckoned that since she was unlikely to wear them anymore (she finds them too old fashion), and since the price of gold is at an all time high, this is the best time to sell them and use the proceeds to buy new "bling".

I thought to myself: "Hmmm...what a great idea. Maybe I should do the same." You see, during my younger days, I would always buy myself some gold every few months. I have necklaces from my first pay packet, diamond rings from my first bonus, bracelets from my second pay packet,....you get the drift. Now my safe boxes are full of such things which, come to think of it, some I would never ever wear again. So off to the safe box I went. I picked up quite a few items which I know I will never ever wear again. These should get me quite a bit of cash, I thought. Then I can buy myself that .....my mind drifted to all those beautiful jewels I had been eyeing.

I left the bank empty handed. I just couldnt imagine trading it for anything, no matter how much I want those new things. I can do without them. You see, I need these "old" things to remind me of the good ol' days. I need to be able to reminisce about when I first earned enough to buy myself that coveted item. I need to be able to show and tell my kids about them. I need to be able to pass some of them down to my children when the Lord calls me back to him. It doesnt matter if my kids may never wear them, I just hope they wont trade them in, and will keep them and pass it on to their kids ....sort of like a family heirloom. I still have the bracelet my grandmother gave to me, something to remind me of her since she is no longer here with us. I still keep that huge "olympic" gold medal my hubby's grandmother gave to me, even though I will never wear it cause it causes my neck to hang. I did not even know her that well - I probably met her something like 4 times, before she left this world. I still keep all those kiddy anklets, rings etc that were given to my kids at birth, though it cant fit them anymore. The list goes on. But I feel obliged to keep them all.

You know why? Because I am a sentimental fool. Are you?

Christmas in October?

Was driving down Orchard Road (the main shopping belt in Singapore) yesterday when my daughter, S, suddenly exclaimed: "Look mum! Christmas decorations! I cant believe it! It's only October."

Me: Are you sure?
(I was busy concentrating on driving due to the traffic jams)

S: Yes, look it's up the tree.
(The tree was next to the Singapore Visitor centre, next to Faber House)

Lo and behold! she was right.

Me: Maybe they are left over decorations from last year. There are no other christmas decorations around.

Driving on, in front of Orchard Plaza, S shouted again.

S: No, Mum! There are more decorations here. Also, they weren't there yesterday when we drove down this road.

Indeed! there were more snow flakes, and stars hanging from the trees!!

Why? Why? Why? This only happens in Singapore. Where Christmas decorations come out in October. It means we have to put up with it for 2 whole months. In the US, the only deco you would see at this time would be for Halloween, culminating with the Haloween parade in Soho, New York on 31 oct. Thereafter, you would see them getting ready for thanksgiving, which is in the last week of November. THEN, when all the thanksgiving celebrations (and the great big post-thanksgiving sale) is over, you would see Christmas deco coming up. Here, we have even yet to celebrate Deepavali, and Christmas deco is up. It is just getting too commercialised.

Please! Would the person in charge of making the decision of when to put up the christmas deco spare a thought for some of us? 2 months is a bit too long!
Christmas in October? Only in Singapore!!

Almost there!

Yes, I am almost there! I only have half a day of work left, this afternoon.

What work? Thot you were a SAHM?

Yeah, la. Working with my son and drilling him for his exams. His exams end tomorrow. So I only have half a day left, this afternoon, to work with him on his maths before we are done with school work for this year.

Most of you would be wondering why I am so worked up about it. Well, its because he is not at all! In fact, last evening he told me that he was not going to school on wednesday. He would go instead on Thursday and do his math paper then. Why? Because he wanted to watch David Copperfield on TV on tuesday night, and if he did not have an exam on wednesday, I would let him watch it, he reckoned!

If only he plans ahead for his school work the way he does for his TV shows, then I wouldnt have to worry so much.

I really dislike the education system here. Much as it turns out kids that are supposedly well ahead of those from other countries, I feel that it is too exam oriented. It is not well rounded enough. Streaming starts too early. But, what can I do? I am just an individual with no powers. So, my kids just have to go with it. I do what I can on my own end. AND I am all stressed out because of it!!

Language

Communication is a process by which people exchange information. Language is the most form of communication for people. It can comes in different forms, and the most common ones are the auditory form: spoken language, as well as the physical form: body language and sign language.

Languages are "living" languages which mean that if they are not used, they will die, and even become extinct. It also changes with time.

My children study 2 languages in school - English, their first language and Mandarin ,their mother tongue. However, they seem fascinated with the Indian Language. My son, N loves pretending to speak tamil. He would go: "abu-neh, vani, ta ram, su sey." It doesnt mean a thing, but he thinks it is so funny. And, as a result, Little D tries to as well. A TV ad by one of the telcos is their current favourite, where it is supposedly filmed in Mumbai, India. They know the ad word for word, and even re-enact it with the Indian accent, which is quite hilarious. However most of the time, when they imitate the language, I tell them that they are "talking rubbish". I always tell them that if no one undrestands what they are saying, they are not communicating at all! I also remind them not to make fun of other people's language.

Just the other day, as we were taking our evening walk around the estate, 2 indian men walked by us. They were talking animatedly in tamil. Suddenly, Little D turned to me and said:"Mummy, they are talking rubbish!!"

Favourite pastimes

Besides reading, blogging, and baking, another favourite pastime of mine is solving puzzles. It could be crossword puzzles, sudoku or kakuro.

Sudoku is a number puzzle that is logic-based.


The objective of the puzzle is to complete a 9x9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 boxes contains the digits from 1 to 9, only one time each. You start off with a partially completed each puzzle. There are various dificulty levels of the puzzles. I have gotten quite good at it, such that if it isnt a 4 or 5 star difficulty rating, I will not even attempt it. Even then, I try to set my self a time limit to solve these puzzles, 30 minutes max. I have also attempted the 16x16 grids, which are real eyesight killers!!

Kakuro is the mathematical equivalent of crosswords.


The objective of the puzzle is to insert a digit from 1 to 9 into each white cell such that the sum of the numbers in each entry matches the clue associated with it and that no digit is duplicated in any entry. Solving a Kakuro puzzle involves investigating combinations more, compared to Sudoku in which the focus is on permutations. These also come with different difficulty ratings. As there are numrous possible combinations, it is a real mental stimulation. I am still only at the intermediate levels for these puzzles, but as I solve more of them, I begin to get a better hang of it. But not quite an expert yet. It can take me more than an hour just to solve a puzzle.

There are variations to these 2 types of puzzles which combine both and really give your brain a good work-out.

"Exercise is the key to good health both for body and mind." So the exercise for our minds are these mental stimulants. It has been said that a brain that is not used, would soon become useless. You will be glad to know that mine has been put to good use solving these puzzles. I have been toying with the idea of buying a Nintendo DS for its Brain age games. But my fear is my kids will take over my toy!