My Kids

Lord you just gotta love them, my children. When I first joined facebook my children all welcomed me. Look at mom so modern and progressive unfortunately they have changed their tune.

Child number one hasn't been on facebook in a while so the other week when we were at dinner I asked her about it. She hasn't updated since she got married. She said she didn't have time that she was too busy at work to waste her time. So I told her that next time she goes in she's in for a big surprise. All the sending of drinks, smiles, hugs and food fight requests it will take her an hour to go through it all thanks to mom.

Child number two he's cool he just ignores everything I send and once in a wee while he will comment on something I wrote. Like a helium article or this blog. He just informed me not to mention his name because a lot of his clients are on facebook.

Child number three, well I guess she hasn't been on facebook in a while and so when she went in she saw all the sending drinks, smiles, hugs and food fight request not to mention farm town which I might add is bloody addicting. She countered with "10 reasons why you shouldn't introduce your mother to facebook "which I have to admit was quite a hilarious article.

Child number four when I commented on her wall she accused me of stalking her. She told me not to send her any of that shit because she just deletes it. I told her I was just having a little fun and why the hell can't I comment on her wall. Everyone else does. I don't need to spy on her on facebook I can do that very well at home. Sheeesh ungrateful kid.

Child number five. The other day I was playing farm town and my son asked me what I was doing, so I told him. I told him it was fun would he like me to invite him on board and he said ok. A few days later I asked him if he joined yet and he said no he might have deleted it because any thing that mommy sends him he deletes. Hummph!!!!! So much for having fun with your loving family on facebook.

Now my daughters friend asked me to join mafia wars that half the Ng's were playing. I enjoy farm town its relaxing and enjoyable besides if I joined mafia wars my loving kids might leave and go to some other game.

School

So the Malaysian government is now going to revert to all subjects being taught in Bahasa, saying that children are now falling behind in Maths and Science because these subjects are taught in English.

If the kids are falling behind in these subjects I don't think we need to put the blame on the language medium it is being taught in. Put the blame on the teachers who are too lazy to learn English. That's right folks I said it. The level of teaching in the schools today has gone to hell. If the teacher were dedicated enough we wouldn't need to send our children too tuition centers.

I have been too my kids school on numerous occasions and hardly any of the teachers speak English. According to my daughter subjects that are supposed to taught in English are being taught in Bahasa because the teacher has little or no command of the English language. Now you wonder why kids are falling behind in these subject? Having English textbooks and being taught in Bahasa? Kinda stupid isn't it.

The English standard in this country has dropped drastically. Without the use of English Malaysians will not be able to compete on a global level. Those who want to study overseas in English media schools will be turned down because they do not speak English. One politician stated that Japanese children do not learn English in their schools. That's as it may be Japanese school children hardly study over seas.

Why is the Malaysian government so afraid for their people to learn English? In every Malaysian home most families usually use their mother tongue so the Bahasa Malay language will not die out. It will only die out if the people let it. My Children can speak three languages fluently. What is wrong with learning another language. As far as I'm concerned my children are the ones who benefit from being bilingual. Too bad the Malaysian government doesn't feel the same way. Thank god both my children will have graduated by 2012.

Kids again

So when your teenage daughter stands there and says "You know I love you mom" you know she wants something. Sure enough it came "Can I go to Aeon tomorrow"? With the weekend coming my ants in the pants daughter wants to go out. Of course the next question I ask is " Do you have any money"? Ya she says and that sure is a surprise to me.

Every day of the week I give them an adequate amount of money. They have breakfast at home now because I force them to eat oatmeal in the morning and take fish oil capsules (brain food) much to their chagrin. Food at school is cheap and I cook dinner at home, so they really don't need to spend much money. I give them more then enough so they should be able to save some money for weekends at the Mall. My youngest son can save his money unfortunately my teenage daughter cannot. So every time she wants to go out she wants money and twenty bucks just doesn't cut it. Now if I were working I wouldn't mind, but I'm not, so we're on a budget. My writing doesn't pull in much so there ya go.

After she asks me if she can go I of course start nagging her about studying for SPM and she pretty much tells me to chill. I mean its not like she's genius or something. I'm happy if she just passes. I don't think I'm asking for much now am I? Seems that going out with her friends is more important then passing exams.

She also reminds me she needs to pay school fees on Monday and asks me not to forget to go to the bank to withdraw the money. We didn't pay at the beginning of the year because the schools couldn't decide how much they were going to rip us off for this year. I mean they get free text books now, no more school fees and no more exam fees so why do I have to pay $120.00 in fees. Parent Teacher Association? It's not like they do anything and I have to fork out money for it? Just last month my son's school stuck me for a hundred over as well. So much for no more school fees and I would like to know what the hell am I paying for?

Side Tracked

So what the hell is it about face book I ask you. I opened my account for purely mercenary reasons. So that I could post my helium articles and blog to get more readers to my sites and earn more money.

Well I kinda got side tracked with all the little games they have. Send a hug, send a smile, send a drink (the best), food fight, beta farm ( don't really know what the hell I'm doing) and today it is a reading link. Half the books I have not read because books are expensive in Malaysia. An American friend online tells me there are sites you can go to and read free books. I'll have to check them out but frankly with my helium writing, my face book and checking email I don't have the time.

Busy busy busy who knew you could be so busy sitting on your butt all day long. Robyn says I'm addicted to face book, I wouldn't say addicted but I do check it before I start writing everyday. I just hope I don't end up on it all day sending back smiles, hugs, drinks, food, and checking my farm which the other day I noticed that my potatoes all died. Hell I didn't even know I had potatoes growing on my farm. I have plenty of trees and a cute little sheep running around eating the grass. So better learn more about beta farm, I did manage to save my apples, pears, oranges and lemons and put them in storage to sell in the future. That's if I can ever find the bloody market I'm supposed to sell them at!

On a brighter note I just sold an article on Helium. I'm so happy.

The Weather

I have been informed by my sister that the weather in Canada is cold and they have had only one week of really hot weather. What I'd like to know is what the hell happened to the weather.

The last time I went home ten years ago we went in the middle of May to the middle of June. In Canada that is considered late spring and the weather should be warm. When I arrived it was bloody cold. I remember going to the lake with my sister and my kids and we were wearing sweaters, pants, socks and shoes and we were freezing and yet there were some crazy Canadians sunbathing on the beach!!! My sisters and their families were wearing shorts and looking at us like we were the crazy ones. So this time I am going in the middle of summer and yet again the weather is cold. Is someone trying to tell me something???

After living in this hot tropical county called Malaysia for the past twenty seven years anytime it falls below twenty five degrees Celsius we freeze. Two of my sisters have a swimming pool in their back yard and so one of my sisters asked me to bring my swimsuit. I don't have one I told her I haven't swam in years. After five kids and a little added weight, me in a bathing suit is just gross. My sis says never mind its only in the back yard, they all swim. She does have a point my sister are all heavier then I am. Problem is my son will be there and I don't want him choking on his beer when he gets a look at me and my sisters in a swim suit. Not a pretty sight. We could be poster girls LOL.

There's a thought when I go home and we all swim I can get him to take a picture and then I can post it on my Face Book. No one will ever view my site again because the sight of us in bathing suits will burn out their corneas. If the weather doesn't warm up though there will be no swimming for me and my new bathing suit will have gone to waste. When I told my son that I bought a suit he asked if I bought a bikini like I used to wear when I was slim and svelte. I saw him shudder as he asked. No I said I bought a two piece and the top is long like a singlet with square shaped bottoms. No more skimpy bikinis for me that's for sure.

If the weather doesn't warm up though he won't have to worry because I won't even put a toe in the water. In Canada the water never warms up unlike in Malaysia where the water is like swimming in warm piss. If the weather does warm up well I guess my son will just have to chug down lots of beer.

Delays Delays Delays

My impending trip to Canada has been delayed. Not because of anything on my part but my son has been having trouble with the Canadian immigration. So now it seems he needs to apply for a Canadian passport.

If they had given us the correct information in the first place we wouldn't have had to wait. I was planning to leave this coming Sunday but now we can't go until the beginning of August. It's so irritating as I have my clothes all ready to pack.

I just called my sister to inform her of this new turn of events. She is worried about telling my mom. Mom is expecting us next week. I told her it's not that we aren't coming its just been delayed. Everyone at home can't wait. We haven't seen each other for ten years. Mom will be disappointed but its due to circumstances out of our control.

I guess everything in life never goes as planned. There's always some obstacle in our path that prevents us from doing things. The stubborn over come them the weak just roll over. My motto is when life gives you lemons, make lemonade and add a big dollop of Vodka.

Motherhood

Well I have to say I never thought that my eldest daughter would take to her impending motherhood. Last week she and the hubby had a couple of days off together and she wanted to go out baby shopping. No not buy a baby but buy clothes and all the other millions of things you need for the little one. Unfortunately hubby was not into that and was more interested in looking at his boys toys. Of course she calls me up all upset because she doesn't know what to buy and needs her momma to help her. So we made arrangements to go and buy baby stuff. She is now seven months along and starting to panic that the child will be born into the world and she will have nothing for it to wear.

Yesterday afternoon we went. At first it was supposed to be me and her. Her sister who is home from Singapore wanted to go and then my two younger ones wanted to go. The younger two not really interested in baby clothes but they thought it was a good opportunity to wrangle something out of one of us at the mall. I know my kids so well. We got to her place and I find out her hubby wants to go along as well. Ok never mind let him go.

After arriving at the mall my pregnant daughter announces she's hungry and will faint if she doesn't eat. Since being pregnant she needs to eat several times a day. She also informs me that all the clothes she bought to wear when she got pregnant don't fit any more and she needs to buy some new ones. I told her to wear those tent dresses but she refuses, just not her style.

So I told them the best place to buy baby stuff is Jaya Jusco. It won't cost you an arm and a leg like those specialty shops. Within an hour I had baby shopping all done. Its so easy when you know how and it's not your credit card that's paying for it. I noticed though as I threw stuff into the basket her hubby's jaw kept dropping until it was down to his knees. He kept asking do we really need this mom and what's this for mom. I assured him that yes everything in the basket will be needed. We spent the rest of the day walking around looking at clothes and she got some more pregnant clothes to wear. After all she has to visit clients and needs to look half decent. We all had dinner at a Thai food restaurant. She called her brother and girlfriend to join us. My younger two managed to wrangle something for themselves and I managed to buy much needed shorts and three quarter pants for my impending trip home to Canada because I have nothing to wear. I've gained weight and most of my clothes don't fit. I guess that's what happens when your on the computer everyday all day long churning out articles. You get a fat ass from lack of exercise.

Getting home I was exhausted. I don't usually shop all day long as I said I'm usually on my ass for most of the day. But never mind my baby who is having a baby is happy and contented once again.

Rise of the Machines

Every where you look today we use machines. We have computers, cell phones, answering machines and VCD players. Their all very confusing to a person like me born in the late fifties.

When I was growing up we didn't have computers. They were a mystery to me but now I have pretty much got it down. Not to a fine art mind you but I am beginning to know my way around. I have yahoo mail, my blog, face book and I write on an online sight. When I use the keyboard I type the way I was taught to type in typing class at high school. When I observe my kids typing they use two fingers max and type faster then I do. Every now and then I have to check my fingers are placed on the correct keys if not gibberish comes out and I have to back space.

When using my hand phone I know how to call, I can send text messages. One simple message can take me 10 minutes to type. It sucks. I observe my children blithely messaging away without even looking at what they are doing. My sister informs me that it take her an hour to type out a message on her hand phone. At least I'm better then her. Now they have this new thing out called twitter. The other day I asked my son what the hell is twitter. He told me it's an instant messaging system. For instance you can type "I'm taking a dump" and all your contacts will receive the message. Why the hell would you want everyone to know your taking a dump I ask you. Hand phones today have everything imaginable, cameras, GPS tracking, is that correct or is it GSP I don't know all I know is your hand phone can now tell were to go. Maybe one day your hand phone will tell you were you can get off. They even have mini computers. You can read your email, face book and yes you can twitter. Hell with the way hand phones are now you don't even have to go to the office.

The VCD player, well I still have trouble with that one. All the remotes have weird symbols on them that the manufacturer expects you to understand. Well I don't. I don't even know how to turn on my damn VCD player. If I want to watch a DVD I have to ask my kids to turn it off and on for me. Like I'm some moron or something.

Answering machines can be a pretty good thing to have if you actually care who called you at home during the day while you were out. My sisters and mom each have one so they can screen their calls. Why do they have to screen their calls. What sinister person are they expecting to call them. The bank saying your over extended? Or maybe the credit card company. I know every time I call one of my sisters or mom in Canada I get their answering machines. Hell my one sister doesn't even answer her phone most of the time any way. Hell she doesn't even check her messages. Why? According to my other sister they all have hand phones. Well jeez didn't they ever think that I might call once in a while just to say hi. Guess not.

Anyway I'm now waiting to see what they can do next with the hand phone. Probably make it smaller so people like me can't even text a message because of my sausage like fingers.