Unarmed Combat

One of the reasons why Zaky wanted to continue with his TKD was to do unarmed combat. I guessed, that really looked like real fighting after years of learning patterns and contactless sparring.

The classes took place at the Singapore TKD Federation over 2 weekends in November 2018 and the test happened while we were on holidays. Finally after forever, the STF came up with a re-test schedule - last Saturday. By then, Zaky had forgotten almost all that he had learnt  but Ildo TKD revised with him and even made him take an extra lesson to prepare him. The center had also asked one of the masters to attend the unarmed combat course too so as to be able to help the kids revised. Thumbs up! Meanwhile, I had been playing the villain, "attacking" the boy at home so that he can practice his moves on me. Haha.

The test took place at ulu ulu STF, some hidden corner in Whampo. Daddy Lim sent the boy as I was busy with jiejie. He texted me when they arrived to say that it didnt seem like any test was going to take place. After confirming with Idlo TKD, Daddy Lim left the hall, which he complained that has no proper waiting place and bad ventilation, and went for a coffee.

About 15 mins after the designated test time, Zaky called me (probably on a loaned hp) bcos he couldnt remember Pappy's no., to say that the test wasnt happening and he wanted Pappy to come back. Daddy Lim rushed back to assure the boy but half grumbling that he wasted his coffee. Lol. He rushed back half thinking that the boy had injured himself. Apparently, the tester was late. Zzzzzz. I thought TKD was about discipline? Blehh...

Soon after, the kids were gathered for practice before the test. Parents were ushered off and Daddy Lim went for another coffee. I had asked Daddy Lim to take some pictures before or after the test for blogging. Fat hope. Lol.

The test was over in like 5 mins. Zaky wasnt sure about his performance bcos he did one of the defence moves wrongly. He corrected it but wasnt sure if it helps. We can only wait and see.

On Sunday evening, we were all there to wait for Zaky while he did his TKD and sparring class. His internal grading test is coming up this Sunday and he was told by one of the masters that he would be tested on pattern 5, 6, 7 and 8. He had learnt all of them but a long time back and couldnt remember. I was activated to standby outside his center to video his practice so that we can revise at home. However, the master only revised pattern 8 with him during class, which he already know and he forgot to tell the master to help him practice the other patterns. Zzzzz. The master has recalled him for extra class this evening. Aiyo.

The sparring class was a lot more interesting. It was Zaky's 3rd contact sparring class and he is definitely getting better and a lot more confident. There were also more kids this time, which also meant more opponents for practice.

The class started off with a lot of drill and it was mad tiring.

And the kids stole whatever possible chance to goof around.

The exciting part took place in the last 15 mins of the class where the kids don their chest guard to do contact sparring.

The usual very nimble and aggressive boy and the black belt powerful girl was in the class. Zaky stands no chance against them. Fortunately, they are older and not in the same category as him in the competition. Haha. There was another boy whom he used to take lessons with and he got to spar with the boy. By a stroke of luck, he actually won! It was a great confident boost for Zaky.

While watching, I saw so many opportunities for Zaky to attack and win a point but he still didnt understand how to grasp those attack chances. The whole time, the kids were just doing side kicks. Boring. Lol. What happened to all the fanciful kicks that they had learnt in their class?

We still have many more lessons to go. Hopefully, Zaky will understand and improve by then. I had been playing his sparring mate at home too, using 2 pillows as my guards. Lol. I am proud to say that his kicks are actually getting fairly powerful! I cant wait to see him in action in his next lesson!

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 149: Start Now

Things are finally starting to get a little exciting as Coach Raymond started to prep Lil Shauna for the upcoming competition in March. We have a SISA lesson this coming week and one more next week. Yes! Big ice!

I got excited as I saw Lil Shauna doing part of the dance steps from her last program. I recognised that! Although it is going to be the same program and music from the last competiton, Coach Raymond will be adding on revisions. The 1st - new hands movement.

While Coach Raymond looked totally graceful, Lil Shauna looked like a rocket.. or maybe preparing to dive? Lol.

That is always what happened. Lil Shauna would be so shy and would do what looked like somewhat required and try to get over it. Then, we will have to do tons of drilling on our own to get it better. Eventually, she will come out with what seems like her own style.

I managed to bluff her back on the ice after class; she needed the extra practice though super reluctant. Haha. I had to bribe her with a snack. Just when we were washing up in the toilet, I realised that she is as tall as me when in her skates!

Lil Shauna is a big girl already!

Mummy Lim

What Will Come, Will Come...

Enough said... I am in denial and refused to read the mail.

I think the Government should seriously consider revamping a more inspiring naming convention. Experienced-shield? Age-gracefully-shield? Forever-25-shield? Whatever...

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 148: Jumps and Spins

I know we should be earlier for ice skating than to do the mad rush dance every week but things just happened and time escaped. Hehehe.

After much rushing, we only hit the ice at 11.30am after cramping on the warmup. On a side note, I was impressed with Lil Shauna's off ice jumps, she can now do 1.25 revolution and sometimes almost hitting 1.5. While it may sound simple, it is really quite a big deal, particularly for her, who had been stuck at 1 round for like years.

We had to adjust her skates for a couple of times. It was too loose, then too tight. Zzzzz. Then she started to want to chicken out of the competition. Yes, even before any real training started. Aiyo.

I had thought that Coach Raymond would start working on her program. The competition is afterall in March and we had short time to prepare with February being a short month, CNY and holidays in March (not us but Coach Raymond too). Instead, Coach Raymond practiced the usual jumps and spins.

It was after class that Lil Shauna shared that her program would be amended. While she would be largely using the program and song from the last competition, her dance steps would be changed as well as some jumps and the spins combination. She said that there would be flip, loop jump, loop jump and salchow jump. Well, the flip, loop combination sounded like a step up. She would also be attempting sit, scratch, back spin combination and that is definitely more difficult that what she had done previously.

After class, she willingly pop back to the ice for extra practices. She attempted the jumps alright but the spins, particularly the back spins are a pain. Nevertheless, her ability to execute the jumps boosted her confidence and the talks about not entering the competition ceased. I also reminded her that she was a mess when she 1st practiced her program for her last competition but with practice and a lot of hard work, she was beautiful on the ice during the competition. Yes, I can also see the many hours of practice and practice and more practice.

Mummy Lim

New School Year

I know, this is so late, right? Lol. The kids survived 2 weeks of school and the full routine of school and enrichment classes are in force.

The iconic "1st day of school" picture.

And every year on that day, fb has to remind me of how tiny they were when Lil Shauna started P1.

Ok, I lied. Lil Shauna didnt look much different, just a lot longer. It is the boy. We almost forgot how scrawny he was many moons back. Now, we have to worry about how much weight he is piling on. Stop eating! Lol.

One more pictures of my blind bats.

Just that day, I realised that I was the "outsider".

I was the only one in a different color and with perfect eyesight. Ahem - ok, with a little bit of old flower.

May the Lord bless our family with a great year ahead; one with plenty of pleasant adventures.

Mummy Lim

Edited:
I forgot to add that we stopped the kids' school bus arrangement. We now send the kids to school. The kids go to student care on Tue, Wed and Fri and are supposed to take the public bus home on Mon and Thu.

The kids had been looking forward to taking the bus home on their own but Popo insisted on fetching despite their protests. Let's hope that she would trust them enough soon.

Ice Skating 147: Competition Mode On

We had a long break bcos of the holiday. While she took a while to warm up as a result of the long break, I am just super glad that she had no complaints at all about her new skates. Yeah!

Her new Jackson skates are so much softer than her last pair, making it easier to break in. It is just a tad too big, which we mitigate through double insoles and making sure that we laced the skates extra tight. If there are any complaints, my poor fingers are complaining; it is super painful to tie the laces tightly.

Coach Raymond made her do quite a fair bit of foot work.

Then jumps and spins too.

There is a competition coming up in March and Lil Shauna has agreed to join. Woohoo! I am already excited at the thought of her owning the entire ice! She will be repeating the program that she last competed, so there isnt much new things to learn but a lot to refresh and refine. Coach Raymond has already made us book Sisa ice so that she can train on the entire ice.

This is the 5th year since Lil Shauna picked up ice skating and this competition will be her 4th. On the other hand, Zaky has started his TKD in 2015 when he was 5ish. This marks his 4th year. He had attained his junior black belt but never to any competition. I dont know if there are any to begin with.

Just last month, the masters told us that there is some sparring competition coming up in March and the boy was super keen to join. So he too, has started training for it. Yeah!

It is contact sparring and it happened that there were 4 kids in the class. It was pure hard work. Now Zaky has a taste of what Jiejie gone through preparing for her competition. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Weekend of Fun + USS Again!

We had a super fun filled last weekend of 2018. The kids were super pleased that activities were all lined up to the brim before school starts.

We had the last gathering of 2018 on Saturday. December gathering must be the best of all bcos there were presents to receive, games to play and of course the usual gang companion.

Auntie S, the official photographer, nicely puts the past years' Christmas gathering pictures together. I hope we looked about the same. Haha.

The gathering ended at about 6pm and we had round 2 at Auntie H's place until late.

On Sunday, we had my brother's family over for BBQ and gift exchange. The kids had another round of fun. I even taught them to play "nerds", reminiscing my teenager days. I havent lost my skills leh.

Come Monday, which was New Year's Eve, we hit the USS. Woohoo! It had been years since we went to USS. We used to have annual passes and it was one of our best hangouts on weekend afternoons that had no agenda. Then the kids got so busy that we rarely have weekend afternoons to spare.

Zaky had been bugging for his loopy loop roller coaster since he missed it in HKG Ocean Park. It was closed for maintenance. Now that he is tall enough for USS Human and Cylone rides, I had promised to bring them. Then we had to miss all the exciting roller coaster rides in USJ bcos of the loooonnnggg q and it accelerated the request to bring them to USS. So, 6 months' season pass was booked for the New Year's Eve. Yay!

Since I was off, we decided to start early and Auntie S would join us with C and T in the afternoon. We didnt buy a pass for Daddy Lim, who usually isnt too keen on theme parks and we didnt need a map man as we are already so familiar with USS. Haha. Not I say one, the kids say de.

The kids grumbled bcos we had to take the MRT then the Sentosa Express. Obviously we werent the only ones keen to go to Sentosa on New Year's eve. It was freaking crowded.

We brought snacks and bread and while q-ing to enter the park, the security was yelling that no outside food was allowed and she was conducting random bag check. We quickly moved to the season pass q and there were no checks. We and our snacks made it safely into USS at 11am.

Then, there was more waiting for the season pass to be made. The kids studied the map so hard while waiting bcos we no longer have our map man.

After a long wait, we finally had the cards made. I told Zaky to open his eyes while smiling and he ended up with a cheeky look imprinted on his card for the next 6 months. Haha.

Bcos USS is only this big with limited no. of rides, there were long qs everywhere even when the park wasnt too crowded. Transformer was a 120 mins wait. Zzzzzz. We ended up in the spinning cup ride bcos it was supposed to be a 25 mins' q. However, there were so many people with express pass that the wait was definitely at least 40 mins. Still, we had our very 1st USS ride!

Then it started drizzling and we caught the Shrek show. The rain was heavier by the time we were done and all the restaurants were crowded with either the lunch crowd or those hiding from the rain. We ended up snacking on the bread and snacks. I am so glad that I smuggled those in.

We attempted to q for the Mummy ride that was supposed to be 45 mins long. About halfway through, we had to abandon the ride bcos the untimely boy needed the toilet. Arrrggghhh.. Fortunately, Lil Shauna didnt throw any tantrum having to forgo the ride after such a long q.

It was pouring when we got out of the q. We had to spend $$ to purchase an umbrella and poncho bcos silly mummy forgot to bring them. Then our shoes got soaking wet. We headed to q for the Puss in Boots ride, only to have the ride suspended bcos of the thunder storm. Zzzzz. It was hard to keep our spirits up. I had to keep reminding the kids and myself that we had a long day ahead and season pass for repeated visits. Ended up, we took the merry go round bcos there was no q. Haha.

And the Madagascar ride bcos it had a 20 mins q but safely under the shelter. Ok, not so safe bcos the storm was so huge and the rain was splashing even with the shelter.

By then, Auntie S, C and T had arrived at USS. We joined them for some arcade games, courtesy of Auntie S, before heading for the Sesame Street show, again bcos of the rain. How exciting. Zzzzz.

But things started looking good thereafter. The rain had lightened up and the thunder storm had chased away part of the crowd. We took so many thrilling rides. The kids had their 1st taste of Cylone and then Human (much later in the night). The Q for Human was only 5 mins!

The kids (less T) loved the Cylone. It was Zaky's 1st ever loopy loop roller coaster! A celebratory pix to mark the moment.

We eventually managed to take the Mummy ride in the evening, when the Q was again only 5 mins. Woohoo! We also went on some rides 2x bcos of the thin crowd.

It was a long day, the kids were pleased with the companionship, particularly the 2 girls, who had each other for company. The q seemed lsss painful with friends. We didnt leave until 10pm and had spent 11 hours in USS!

Daddy Lim came to pick us up. The kids were beat but refused to leave and are already looking forward to our next trip to USS with C and T.

I have to remind myself to wear sandals and slippers the next time and to bring the brolly. Lil Shauna complained of blisters and got herself new slippers. $$ fly away already.

It was such an amazing day.

Despite being exhausted, we still met up with the Chan Family on New Year's Day! We visited them at their place before going to Lab Park for the kids to run around at the playground. Seriously, where do the kids' energy comes from? I could probably go a long way with just a fraction of that.

I am quite sure that their happiness tank is filled to the brim and hopefully it can last them for a while with the new school year. Haha.

Mummy Lim