Snowboarding Starts Again with Snowmonster

We took a 2-week break bcos I traveled for work. It is also bcos it is so hard to progress with the enoki carpet and the 50% Mothers’ Day promotion has ended. Even after 3 lessons (and multiples with Trifecta previously), I am not consistent in getting my C and J turns. The issue? Leaning on the front knee when the board is vertical is counter intuitive and as we get more tired, it becomes almost impossible for the body to lean forward even when the brain knows/ tells it to do so. 

The classes are usually at $120 per class. I know, that is crazy expensive. Even with a different promotion now, the classes are at $99 each. Buying a package consisting of multiple lessons will bring down the cost per class, the bulkier the purchase, the lower the price per class.

We eventually decided to go back to classes bcos Zaky insisted that his foot is now ok and he wanted to join in the fun (and cost). While he has always been the one who advanced the fastest when we go for our snow trips, it had been 1.5 year since our last trip, so he starts from the beginner class too. To make sure Daddy Lim doesn’t become a falling leaf warrior or ended up only building snowman, I encouraged him to take the beginner class (again) with Zaky, much to his reluctance. I foresee a falling leaf or multiple snowmen appearing on our year end Japan trip. Hoho. 

Zaky was super excited. They both nailed the falling leaves on heel and toe side. 

There was 1 other person in the class. As there are 3 lanes, they could keep going until they decided that a break is needed. Falling leaves are tiring. 

Bcos they are all expert falling leaves, they got to try the turns next. C curves (heel to heel or toe to toe) are easy bcos the board doesn’t have to point totally vertical before they turn back. The J curves (heel to toe and toe to heel) are the killers. This is when the board not only have to turn vertical but also change course. I barely got much success the last lesson. 

The boys are falling as frequently. The issue? Everybody has their weight on their back knee bcos it is just natural to do so. Zaky was even more spectacular; he kept leaning back while on his toe side and fell and then rolled backwards. In his extreme, he did 3 consecutive rolls, until the instructor has to stop the carpet or he probably would go on rolling. Lol. The fortunate thing is that the falls are not extremely painful normally. I think he maybe did 20 back rolls in that 1 hour class. It was quite funny. 

Nana and I decided that we would do the intermediate class. They are less crowded and we are hoping that the instructor would start teaching us to do proper turns since it is an intermediate class afterall. Our class was on Monday 8pm and we were the only students. I took a while to warm up after the break. I was worried that I would forget all my basics. Fortunately I didn’t. The instructor was the same who taught us our 1st lesson. She claimed that she has helped many people achieved their turns but we didn’t get ours then. Sob.

She remembered us and asked where the hubby is. Hubby is recovering from the day before class. Hoho. I told her that my problem is the leaning on the back knee, just like everybody else. Soon, we embarked on our turns. Nana got it like instantly. What!!??? I was so jealous. 

I was ok on my 1st J turn but then the body got tired and I fell and the standing up was tiring and I became even more tired. That’s the end of my J turns. Meanwhile, Nana was doing great on her turns. The instructor asked Nana to transverse after her turn and continue with her turns and she did great. She is the 1st in the family to achieve S turns! So mega proud of her. 

I took a break while she went on turning and turning and turning. She made it look so effortless. 

It was then my turn to try to get the turns. Nana said that I psyche myself into falling and I could do it. The instructor said that it was bcos I kept looking at the ground. I thought it was bcos I was leaving on my back knee. I was reminded that I needed to put my weight on my front knee and looked up and out. Suddenly, I got my 1st proper J turn. Hooray! Once I got the 1st one, it suddenly all made sense and I could do the turns. I was mega happy. Hoho. Nana was happily helping me take video and ended up with crazy hair selfie. 

Oh yes, it was tiring and we had a good workout. 

At the end of the class, I tried to connect my turns, which will lead me to my S turn when connected properly. It wasn’t that smooth but I did a few continuously turns, though a bit wide. It was a great progress nevertheless. The last one, I turned, caught an edge and fell backwards painfully. I got no more strength to stand up. Haha. 

I am now very excited to go back for classes. Once S turns are achieved, we can already survive pretty well on a green run mountain. Nana can start to learn tricks if she wants to. Last night before sleep, I kept thinking about the turns. Haha.

Bcos Snowmonster is so different from Trifecta, I am not sure if we wanted to go back to Trifecta to mess up what we had learnt. The carpet and bar system in Trifecta make turning so much easier. Just Monday, somebody was taking class after the boys and I had seen him previously in Trifecta. He was already in Intermediate 2 classes and doing turns quite decently. At Snowmonster, he was also falling everywhere. The enoki system is just different.

I still have 6 lessons left with Trifecta and I think the kids can use those to take trick lessons in Trifecta. Their trick classes are on the non-rolling enoki slope. Meanwhile, I will probably take 1 more Intermediate lesson before booking Snowmonster open sessions. These open sessions  come without an instructor, at $60 each and the participants control the speed of the carpet themselves. These sessions are at weird timing and will be good for self practice. 

Yay, looking forward to my S turns! As expected, I am now getting muscle aches at weird places. Hoho.

Mummy Lim

Simply Retro by Tin Box

A few weeks ago, Auntie S sent a photo to the chat group. She had dinner with her colleagues at one of these restaurants with a live band. A DJ was playing in between sets. It was like Blackbird but different kind of genre. Daddy Lim’s favorite band in Blackbird often left me deaf. Lol. Where Auntie S went looks exciting and I got excited. Mambo has lost its shine with the young people invasion. 

She said that the band played Chinese songs but the restaurant chain has several branches and the one at Chjimes has an English live band. I wasted no time and went online to book an indoor table for 4, without knowing who would be available. It is ok, book 1st and can cancel later. Some online reviews said that the Simply Retro crowd is that of the older generation happily reminiscing their younger party days. That’s us! Let’s go! 

I was looking forward, even though I have no idea what to expect. The plan was to have dinner. The reservation was for 7.30pm. The restaurant wasn’t as crowded as I had imagined but most of the indoor tables were occupied at most times.

I got a Long Island Tea! That is so nostalgic. The last I drank one must be during my 20s party days. It was very strong, stronger than the one that Auntie S later ordered and lasted me the whole night bcos I waited for the ice to melt, then added more ice. Hoho.

The Shaggies was playing and started their 1st set at 8.15pm. Daddy Lim said that they are a good band. They sounded very decent and played mostly pop or retro songs. They had a total of 4 sets, each lasting about 30 mins. Then a DJ was playing retro songs in between sets. 

The crowd was fun! I felt very young. It was really a group of “my age” folks who just wanted to groove the night away. I saw several looking in their 50s and 60s but was dancing the entire night. We all had fun and a great workout. 

This was us earlier in the night and still looking very fresh and sober. 

It was afterall a restaurant, so it was closing shortly after midnight. Most of the crowd left after the last set. As the DJ came on after the last bit, the restaurant staff started to stack up the chairs, then putting the door panels up. Lol. It was like they were dying to close and can’t wait for us bunch of old folks to leave. 

We agreed to come back again, though the songs kept repeating. I think Dancing Queen was played like 3x, and so was Uptown Girl. Hahahaha. Auntie S lamented that it ended so early but we started early too! With Mambo, we had to meet at 11pm and that is already after my usual bedtime. Lol, old people problem. We get more dancing here, there are seats to rest and most importantly, there is free flow of water! I thought it was great overall. It is a question of whether I can get a next reservation and also who would be free to join me. Hoho. 

Till the next time! 

Mummy Lim

Lychi

It had been 3 weeks since we got Lychi. Things had been going really well. He was confined for a few days before he was roaming the house and soon after, he was let out for the nights too. Nana has tried sleeping with both cats and succeeded on a couple of nights but had to let them out at wee morning bcos they started meowing. She didn’t mind.

Mochi and Yochi are still doing a lot of play fighting. 

It is usually Lychi who launches the attack. There is no hissing, no growling and they would be in happy belly exposing posture when taking breaks in between. They do get too excited at times, so we keep an eye when we are home. I hope the play fightings are not overboard when we aren’t. Just a few days ago, we found scratches above Lychi’s left eyebrow. Zzzzz. He didn’t seem to mind though. 

Lychi is very food motivated. He now has a bulging tummy. He can’t wait while we prepare food. After he finished his, he would aim for Mochi’s. Thankfully, Mochi would just walk away until Lychi is done. Mochi looks like he has enough fats to lose, so we are not worried. Lychi is so cute. 

We are supposed to bring Lychi for his booster vaccine jab soon after we got him. However, JJ mentioned that his poop was loose and asked us to wait a while. Then I had to travel for business. 

We dragged a little too long. We finally brought him to the vet on Saturday. While it was easy to get him into the carrier, he meowed so pitifully. He must be very stressed bcos he even rejected treats while in the car and at the clinic. 

There was a 30 mins’ wait that Lychi took a nap. 

The vet visit was ok. Lychi was curious and sniffing around. He took the jab well too. Bcos the booster jab was too far apart from the 1st jab, the vet suggested that we redo the jab and Lychi needs to come back 1 month later for the follow up jab. Poor Lychi. 

Mochi is due for his annual vaccine too. While some people believe that indoor cats don’t need yearly vaccination, the vet advised that we do, since we just introduced a new cat. So the plan is to bring both of them back next month. Poor Mochi! 

I think they were staring at some ants on the wall. They are so enjoyable now. Lychi is so cute!

Mummy Lim

Daddy Lim’s New Toy

Daddy Lim’s toys are never cheap. This one neither. 

God has blessed our family, that we managed to afford a car very early in our family life. At that time, car price was nothing like now. That start is very important bcos the subsequent cars’ cash upfront payment is offset with the old car trade in value, enabling a manageable car loan. I am not sure how our kids are able to afford a car in the future. It is ok, it is their problem. Hoho. 

Our last Audi is a 2nd hand car bcos brand new Audi is too expensive but the man wanted to try driving one. Thankfully, we are blessed with one that didn’t give us any problems in the last 3 years. It was our 1st sedan car. We always have SUVs in the past bcos we have big people in the family and it is easier to get into and out of a SUV. Daddy Lim wanted to try a sedan. It seems ok in the beginning. Maybe it is an age thing; the getting in and out seems to get more difficult as the days progressed. 

We had recently paid off the car loan. This seems to be the indication for car changing. Maybe we should take a 10 year loan for the next car. While a car is only a transport for me, Daddy Lim took the research very seriously. It took him a while to finally decide that it would be an EV. We spent several weekends doing car window shopping and test drives. Then waiting for the COE to come down but it never did.

Now that Zaky is almost the legal age to get a driving licence, he is very invested in what new car we are buying too. I hear him discussing with Daddy Lim and even tagged along for test drives.

New car collection used to be a family affair. Now, it is just a car collection. Poor Daddy Lim went down alone yday. 

I thought he looked like he won a car in some grand lucky draw. Hoho. 

He then picked up the kids for dinner.

The kids were very impressed with the high tech car, they were testing out the different app and even karaoke singing. Lol. I was busy working when they came home and didn’t join them in exploring the new car. 

This morning, Daddy Lim offer to send me to the MRT. I took the offer bcos it would be so sad if other people started taking the new car before me. The car is really quite cool, it come with seats that blows out air somemore So fanciful. 

Daddy Lim is obviously still trying to get used to the new car. When nearing the MRT, he said that other people were not allowing him to cut in and drop me off. Huh? What? Hahahaha. 

I hope he likes the car for a long time. He is afterall the biggest user. Then he would be happy when we ask him to send us around. Hoho.

Mummy Lim

Zaky’s Saturday Morning

Zaky had his braces since September 2024. It had been 1 year 9 months and he had been looking forward to them coming off. We thought that would happen the last appointment a month back and I even took a picture to commemorate. 

It didn’t…. The dentist said that something else needed to be tightened/ corrected. That means another month to go. 

The time has finally come! Or so I hope. 

Indeed it has. The braces came off, his teeth cleaned and new x-rays taken. 

The payment had been in instalments, after a lump sum in the beginning. Then, it had been $200 every visit. Yday, we paid the balance, the dental procedures and the new retainer, that he is supposedly to wear forever. His parents were $1k poorer. 

Zaky said that it felt so different; something is missing. 

His smile looks different too. He happily flashed me his pearly whites. 

After the dental, we hopped down to Singapore Polytechnic. Four years ago, he was offered a space in SST, and we know that almost half of their students eventually opted for Poly. These are smart (or at least academically inclined) students who achieved 10 or 11 points during their PSLE, often dragged down by their language ability. Many of them are attuned to the Poly route, bcos of how SST scopes their curriculum, often favouring project work and discard the conventional way of teaching. Zaky rarely needed textbooks; the ones passed down from Nana were mostly untouched. 

In the early years, he would still comfort his dear mother’s heart and tell me that JC is his preferred route. SST has an integrated program with Ngee Ann Poly and students in the program skipped O levels and progressed to Poly year 1 after Secondary 4. Zaky didn’t opt for that in Secondary 3 then, and was still telling me that he would go to JC. 

I duno what has changed but earlier this year, he had a changed of mind and started telling me that he is considering going to Poly after the O levels bcos Poly would suit his way of studying a lot more. My heart broke. Since then, every now and then, we would try to convince each other that the other route is better. 

I don’t think any parents can win against their kid. There are many more universities in Singapore now compared to our times and getting into “an” university in Singapore after Poly isn’t as tough as before. There will definitely be an university that he can go to. I was also convinced that he would struggle mad in JC after the mugging that we had done for Chinese O levels. 

Anyhow, he did his own research, and thought of  Mechatronics Robotics Engineering in Singapore Polytechnic. SP has an opened house bcos the application for the EAE (early admission) is around the corner. Those offered would be guaranteed a spot so long as they cleared O levels. 

At least he gets an exemption of up to one year if he goes into a relevant course in University. I am not sure if Zaky would apply but seriously, even if he doesn’t get in via the EAE, I am confident that he would get in via the O levels route. The COP for the course is 13 for L1R4 and I think that is highly achievable for Zaky. 

The funniest thing? Zaky pointed out that all teenagers dressed the same way now. Indeed! Every teenager boy was in grey sweats and black tee. Why did they go Poly to escape uniform but created their own uniform? lol. 

Mummy Lim

Tokyo Business Trip Part 2

The typhoon has left the weather cool and nice. 

1st thing 1st - gym! The gym is tiny and very popular. On both days, it was busy. 

Done, packed, checked out and to the office. #ootd

I had lunch with my colleague, a Japanese fusion version of our 菜饭. There is a choice of bread or brown rice. The lunch feels… very healthy. 

It was back to work before I finally left the office at 8pm bcos most of the colleagues had left and I dont know how to lock up the office. The airport is only 20 mins away but the taxi fare cost about S$80. I think not many people take cabs and thus it was so easy to hail a cab on the street. My Japan colleagues have never asked me to leave the office early, bcos it would be difficult to get a cab. Ya, Japan is still the “flag a taxi” system and has just recently progressed to app booking but road hailing is still the way to go. I am always very amazed. 

The taxi uncle did the irritating “step and release the acceleration” drive thing. Luckily the drive was only 20 mins. The coffee that I had 30 mins ago really didn’t agree with the taxi uncle’s driving. I was nauseous and hungry at the same time. 

At the airport, there were long Qs. I was told that the “system is down”. I duno what that means, bcos there were still a few people doing self luggage check-in, while majority were in the Q. I asked if I could do self luggage check-in and was told not. Luckily I was early. The extra polite Japanese staff didn’t sit well with me then bcos their extra politeness means longer serving time. I want my dinner! 

Finally! 

The ANA business lounge serves really good food, though it is the same spread as my last visit but still good. Chomp, chomp. 

My flight was at 12.10am. I didn’t even bother to check the movies offering. I was all ready to sleep and was already dozing off. Once the seatbelt sign was off, I officially went to lala land.

I was definitely more tired than the flight to Tokyo and barely stirred much. I didn’t even get the chance to drink a coffee bcos I slept all the way, until they made the announcement that the flight was going to descend. 

Everything went smoothly and I was home by 7am. Daddy Lim was home too, trying to clear his off in lieu. How nice. The moment I got home, he asked me to go and see if Lychi’s poop looks normal. Lychi is having some loose stools. Anyhow, I survive the day, unpacking, cleaning, and working. I was so tired by the end of the day. Another work trip done. 

Mummy Lim

Tokyo Business Trip Part 1

I flew to Tokyo on Monday night. I had thought that my flight was at midnight and only needed to be at the airport at 10pm. Luckily I checked during dinner, bcos my flight was actually at 10pm. Hohoho. Luckily I didn’t miss my flight. 

Thankfully, I got to fly business again and went to the business lounge. Of course I wasn’t hungry but I shouldn’t waste the business lounge. I didn’t have much time though. 

Did I do DFS shopping? Of course not. There would be plenty to buy at Donki in Tokyo. 

This was the bfast menu. I duno how it tasted bcos I told the air stewardess not to disturb me - I needed to sleep. 

There wasn’t anything interesting to watch while waiting for take off. I had “Goat” on the screen but switched it off immediately when the seatbelt sign was off. Good night. 

Like usual, I stirred a few times in the night but thankfully fell back to sleep quickly. I didn’t quite know when bfast was served. Business class was not full but I do remembered waking up at some point to the clinking of cutlery. 

Good morning! 

Immigration was smooth and I took a taxi directly to the office, only to realise that the office building main door wasn’t open at 6.30am. I went for Family Mart bfast, found an outdoor table and was happily surfing while enjoying the cool weather and my bfast. It was approaching summer and there was just a heat wave last week. I got to enjoy the good weather. Woohoo! 

Watching little kids go to school. 

After I finally managed to gain entry into the office building and freshened up, I found myself stranded outside the office door. I had to wait for my colleagues to come at 9am. 

I had thought that the weather was great. Funnily, I was told that Typhoon Jangmi was hitting Tokyo the next day and the Government had issued warning. While my agenda was F2F meeting with colleagues, nobody would be coming to the office the next day. It is ok, at least I have cool weather. 

Lunch was again grabbed from convenient store. But it was so good. 

The typhoon was supposed to arrive in the night. There was a light drizzle when I left the office at 7pm. It was so light that an umbrella wasn’t needed and I had a nice cooling walk to the hotel. I stayed in Mitsu Garden again and enjoyed my Donki night shopping. 

I wasn’t too hungry and got some instant food from the Family Mart. I thought it was chicken and pork. Yes, it was some kind of pork - pork tongue. Zzzzzz.. I didn’t manage to make myself eat those. 

Sleep was good bcos I was so tired. 

When I woke up, it was like there was a heavy drizzle, not typhoon. My colleague texted that I should stay in the hotel, the Government had just issued a warning. 

Bcos there was no need to get ready for the office, I had so much time in the morning for gym and bfast. 

The hotel has changed the bfast menu and it is better. 

It was raining for most of the day. At times, it was heavier but otherwise, it feels like a light rain for most part of the day. 

Singapore thunderstorms felt worse. This is typhoon? I think the Roppongi area was less impacted with all the tall buildings. 

I did experience the typhoon when I went downstairs to grab lunch. The rain was light but I got the “wind”. My lousy Singapore umbrella withstood the test of wind. Later in the afternoon, I saw trees dancing and purposely went downstairs. The wind wasn’t any stronger leh.

The rain let up at about 4.30pm and the sun came out. The typhoon has gone on its way to China. I “survived” a typhoon in Tokyo! 

For dinner, I finally tabaoed proper food instead of the Family Mart and had curry rice. Yum! 

Mummy Lim

O Levels Chinese P1 and 2

Oh yes, it had been 2 years. 

2 years ago, it was the same struggle with Nana. I just read back on the blog post and the struggle with Nana was intense bcos it was a lot of last minute work. She (we) worked darn hard in the last 2 weeks leading to the papers. With Nana’s experience, Zaky and I started earlier. 

Zaky surprised me in many ways. He worked hard (for Chinese), he said that he would burn the TYS after the papers and had never study so hard in his life. I am not sure if the TYS is now ashes. The point is that he did many TYS papers without me asking him to. He also willingly learn his 词语. The difference? Nana simply didn’t know the 词语, while Zaky could read many of them but didn’t know the meaning. It puzzled me a lot in the beginning. Bcos he could read, I assumed that he understood what he was reading. Apparently not. He has fully utilised his ability to 有边读边, 无边读中间 ability. 

The drill was the same though - 词语, TYS, paper 1 大纲. Zaky was so turned off by Chinese by the end. Did he improve? I duno, I can’t tell. His tutor, 黄老师 was also very impressed with his TYS hard work and said that his comprehension did improve a fair bit. While he doesn’t have and can’t use bombastic 成语 and 词语 for his paper 1, his tutor thinks that he wouldn’t do too bad for paper 1 if his 语文 isn’t too screwed up as his points are usually quite valid. I lost count of how many times I made him repeat his sentence to correct his structure. Direct translation from Singlish is really killing their Chinese. 

The other concern is 离题. That was the same problem with Nana. All it takes is to have words in the question that they don’t understand, guess wrongly, interpret wrongly and/ or missed reading and their 作文 can go south. Interestingly, Nana would attempt the story type of question while Zaky goes for the argumentative/ opinion kind. Nevertheless, we prepared for both bcos if they could not understand their favorite, they would just have to attempt the other type of question. 

I flew off for my Japan business trip on Monday night. I can’t help even if I was in Singapore. 黄老师 continued to be very chill, and didn’t think Zaky needed extra tuition. She doesn’t even want to do tuition with Zaky in June and said that we can continue in July (after I requested) to help him prep for oral in mid July. 

Zaky’s P1 took place yday morning. Then a short break before P2. He messaged us and sent us the questions during the break. 

He attempted Q1 and 5. Thank God for answering our prayers. I prayed that God would give him questions that he could understand and no words that would stumble him. I think his points are valid. At least he didn’t 离题. I think so lah. 

I think his p2 wasn’t as confident. He said he screwed up the 1st 2 parts. I expected that too. His last minute work can only get him so far ah. Lol. 

We have done our best. Meanwhile, I will go and read some Reddit and entertain myself. Hahaha. 

Mummy Lim