Extreme Skate Park Again

The stunt scooter was delivered last Tuesday.

Daddy Lim and I spent a long time trying to assemble. 

We had a hard time trying to attach the handle bar to the scooter base. We saw YouTube videos and saw that it was so easy but the bar wouldnt slide in as easily as it seems to supposedly be. We even called up the sales person, who said something that makes so much sense.

"Of course it looks easy on Youtube mah. Which youtuber will make things look difficult? The kids are all growing up watching youtubes, thinking that everything in life is so easy."

So logical and sensible right? We eventually resort to violent and force the bar in place. Daddy Lim was too gentle on the scoot lah. Haha. 

Presenting to you the Envy Colt Series 3.

Zaky was showing off to the neighbours but got bored soon after without any slopes or bars to work on.

Of course he requested to go back to the ECP skatepark to try out his scoot. We were hoping that Lil Shauna has project work but no leh. She ended up tagging along and so did my brother's family. It become a big outing.

Zaky was eagered to try out his new scoot. He was soon off to the slopes. He said that it was so much easier with the right scooter. 

Interestingly, the other boys with stunt scoots started talking to him. The stunt scooter must be an identity thing bcos nobody chatted with him the last time we were here with his normal scooter. With his Colt, he was able to go faster and jump onto the slope. Nice. 

The girls were obviously not too keen on the aggressive sports.

They ended up spending a lot time picking cotton wool from a nearby cotton wool tree. Then asked to go to the beach, leaving the boy to scoot somemore. 

The girls had so much fun playing with sand.

Picking and breaking open rotten coconuts. So funny. Haha. They were complaining about how bad the coconuts smelled but got a kick from breaking them.

What was I doing? Sitting on the breakwater, eye powering the kids and taking nice selfie. Hehe.

We had wanted to have dinner at the ECP hawker center only to realise how crowded it was. We eventually found ourselves at the TradeHub 21 Mac.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 131: Still Spinning

I had thought that it would finally be jump week after spinning for so many weeks but it was still spins.

After the usual footwork, Coach Raymond worked on her camel spins. She still looked like a crippled camel and was only able to only do 1 proper round before her leg started dropping. She blamed it on her skate, that it weighs a ton. Haha.

Her sit spins were much better though. I though I saw a couple of really nice ones and she appeared to be able to hold longer too.

She still has work to do on her back spins. Well, practice will make perfect.

Mummy Lim

Solo Ride with WWF

It had been 2 weeks since I rode. The 1st ride was called off bcos it was the day after World Cup finals and there was rain last Saturday. Why like that? Then Daddy Lim went on a solo ride on Sunday morning; I was dead from the late Saturday party. Muahahaha.

Daddy Lim is so sick; spraying mucus everywhere when he sneezes. He decided to miss the Saturday ride. I ended up having my 1st solo ride with the WWF bcos I was so desperate and so sick of the treadmill. Seriously, after so many months of riding with the gang, I am still scared to go without Daddy Lim. I have been following blindly and am worried that if I get dropped and lost, I am without Daddy Lim to lead me home. It helps that the route was simply the LCK loop, which meant little risk of getting lost. I am familiar with that route and figured out that I would be able to find my way home if I really do get dropped. Hehehe.

The ride started at 6.30am and I followed them to LCK without a problem.

The next almost 1.5hr was spent looping LCK. Each loop is about 6.3km. There was almost no stop/ rest, we just go on and on at our own pace. I have no pressure to need to catch up.

Overall, I completed 5 loops! I might have gone 1 more if not for time constraint or maybe not bcos my butt was hurting and my toes and fingers were numbed from the almost single posture due to the constant riding.

We headed back to JW and I arrived safely at Mac for bfast with the gang - all without Daddy Lim.

I forgotten to click on my fitbit while heading to LCK. Overall, I should have hit 40km. Yeah! Another 40km under my belt.

Mummy Lim

Saturday Night

It had been months since the usual suspects had a clubbing date. Strikes while the iron is hot. A simple suggestion turn quickly into a fixed date and viola!

We agreed on last Saturday night and to meet at 10.30pm. Choosing the venue had always been the toughest. I mean, how are we to know what's hot and what's not from our infrequent clubbing? Plus the ladies had to accommodate to my request for a club with older crowds. Seriously, I am not keent to look a clubbing auntie even in reality I am. Lol. Well, the dim lights have always been a saving grace. We had a few venues in mind, all thanks to Auntie S' researches.

I had a long day on Saturday, from classes to bike shopping to the skate park. It was almost 10pm when we were finally home and I took the MRT after getting all dolled up. Well, we all know that the clubs dont get fill up until closed to midnight. The girls didnt reach much earlier than I did and were out club hunting. I was told that it was club VLV when I arrived and I had to take some time to navigate my way from the train station. Yes, I is mountain tortise. Oooo... night scene, look at the lights! I feel like a moth (though I hate them); drawn to the lights against my will.

Why VLV? Apparently, it is one of the newer clubs and they were trying to entice crowds by luring the ladies with free entry and 2 free drinks, simply by following them on fb. Well, that wasnt a bad deal. The crowd is fairly matured too and that is a plus! Hehehe.

There was a long Q for the drinks and free thing takes time. Haha. The music was mainly radio pop songs. I felt like they were playing my playlist on my sony headphone. Lol. The crowd was made up mainly foreigners and non-chinese. We saw big numbers of Indians and Filippinos. Well, I guessed we cant complain too much when everything is free. I was just commenting about the Filippinos being the inferior race in the clubs. It was obvious that the ang mos freely approached them for some skinship regardless of whether the Filippinas were keen or not.

There was plenty to look and see. There was no platform but a huge bird cage.

Overall, it wasnt too bad despite the music repeating and the underrepresented locals. Well, we got a 3rd free drink while deciding if we should hop a club after visiting the toilet. That lasted us until 2.30pm.

The cab q was very reasonable at 2.30am. The night was probably still very young for the other clubbers. See, we still looked so sober.

I was finally in bed at about 3am. Yawnz.

Life goes on the next morning. Just that I needed an extra boost. Oh, and I unfollowed the club on fb. Hahaha.

When will the next clubbing date be? Hehehe.

Mummy Lim

Roadie Hunting

I got my "love" in August last year. With leisure riding on PCNs in mind, the trusty Giant MTB serves me well. She is an absolutely easy and comfortable ride.

Things got a little challenging as we started riding with the WWFs in February this year. Daddy Lim and I are the rare MTBs while the rest flew by on their roadies and hybrids. They are a considerate group though and made sure that nobody gets drop off during the group rides. Nevertheless, Daddy Lim and I tried our best and feel bad when the rest have to wait for us. 

Regardless of how hard we tried, we realised that there are physical constrains. Any speed above 25km/h leaves us panting like mad and a 40km ride is already pushing our limits. I am quite sure that our fitness has to blame but I would still like to blame it on the lack of "proper" bikes. Hehehe. At times that we were exhausted chasing on the group rides, I really want to get a roadie. 

After much consideration, it is finally THE time. Hehehe. This will be the 1st roadie in my life. I had intended to wait for Daddy Lim; I would sponsor his roadie so long as he quits smoking. Ya, I got fed up with waiting and was hoping that my purchase would give him more motivation. I am imagining myself cruising past him whistling as he pants and huffs. Muahahaha.

There was much discussion of a 2nd hand bike. Seriously, I have no qualms while Daddy Lim was all for a brand new bike. We had been paying some attention to To Go Parts in hope of finding good deals with the right size and specs. Unfortunately, we have no such luck so far. 

Then, there was this question of a racing geometry or an endurance one. Without ever being on a roadie, we decided to go bike testing/ shopping to find out. 

The kids were in Maths class while we rushed to Rodalink at TradeHub. They didnt carry the brands that we were looking for. Seriously, there are so many different brands but I only have 2 in my head - Specialised and Giant. My MTB is a Giant and Specialised is an atas brand. For Daddy Lim, it is usually an atas something or nothing. He had been Specialised this and Specialised that for a long time, which is why I only registered 2 brands in my head. Haha.

So, I got to try a Polygon endurance bike and a Colnago racing bike. 

Granted that the test riding distance was really short, I could not tell much of a difference. However, the latter comes with Ultegra groupset and it was smoother. I now know that I wanted an Ultegra. Hahaha.

While enroute to the ECP skatepark, we detoured to the bike shops at Ubi; the same place that I had bought my "love". We visited Specialised and have to acknowledge their good customer service.

The sales recommedned a over $3k bike for me. Test riding is not allowed but I did get to mount the bike. Then I was reduced to entertaining Zaky in case he knocks over $10k bikes. Lol. I didnt particularly like or dislike the bike; the encounter (with the bike) was way too superficial for any feelings to develop.

Then, we hopped over to Giant. Yes, the same place where I got my MTB.

The sales recommended the Liv Langma Advanced Pro. While there was again no ride testing, the sales gave me a simple bike fitting, measuring here and there before declaring that it was a perfect size and optimal saddle height. I also got to peddle while on the trainer. The feeling was good. It comes with the Ultegra groupset - brownie points!

I was told that it was the last piece but I wasnt ready to splurge almost $3k without more research. The boy was also starting to whine about his skatepark. The Langma didnt go home with me despite how encouraging Daddy Lim was and I do have a good feeling about it.

I wanted to do more research (ok, Daddy Lim to do more research) to make sure that it was the best (or at least good) deal. I get confused with all the differnt jargons and left the reading up to Daddy Lim. There are afterall so many other brands that we didnt explore. 

Daddy Lim nicely read up on the other possibilities and declared that the Langma is indeed value for money. Hehehe. I like this conclusion. The only hurdle now is storage - where can we store another expensive house in our tiny house? 

Then what happens to my trusty Giant MTB?

Hehehe. When Lil Shauna is finally comfortable with my MTB, we do have her Btwin to give away. Hands up anyone?

At least I now know that I wanted an Ultegra and I fit a size 48 or 49 or a S size bike. Nice...

Mummy Lim

Extreme Skatepark

Zaky always has a love for skatepark though he doesnt own the right gear. He had been asking to go a skatepark and he finally got his chance when jiejie had to go to her classmate's (and neighbour) house for project work. Sidetracked, Lil Shauna spent 5.5 hrs at the project meeting to only complete the project sketch. That is one of the most inefficient meetings that I have seen in my life. Lol.

Daddy Lim googled and showed him the various skatepark options. He chose the faraway East Coast Extreme Skatepark. Yes, we travelled from West to East just to scoot.

Not only was it a long, long car ride, the nearest carpark was full as well and we ended up with a long walk. We were also half worried that the skatepark was closed/ demolished. Heng ah!

I was seriously amazed at the huge skatepark. What 1st greeted us was like looked like a huge concave well. It is meant only for advanced skaters.

"Advanced" must be understated; I think only experts should be allowed. Few skaters were at this part of the park.

We walked further and came to the part that is apt for the normal humans.

The boy was overjoyed. He was apprehensive at 1st, wondering which slide (down) he should attempt. The dear mummy suggested the very gentle ones. Lol.

It wasnt long before he attempted the very steep ones. At times like that, I should just close my eyes, in case I get a heart attack.

There were so many other skateboarders, scoot skaters and stunt bikers sharing the skatepark. Fortunately, there was a lot of space for everyone. Most of the scoot skaters were using stunt scooters. I was impressed by what some of the little ones can do.

We had to leave at about 7pm, after spending more than 1 hour at the park. We were getting hungry and there was no food (not even snack) at that part of ECP.

I cannot help it but think that Zaky should get a stunt scooter too so that he be safe. So, we are getting a stunt scooter as his advance bday present! We tried Decathlone only to find their stunt scooters feeling filmsy; not much difference from the usual scoot. Daddy Lim brought him stunt scooter shopping and they laid their eyes on this one... expensive taste leh. Lol.

The gold colored one is an eye candy but sold out. Anyhow, this would be delivered in the next 2 days. Yeah!

I am sure the boy would wish that jiejie has project work every Saturday. Haha. This time, we will be well prepared with food.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 130: Spins and Spins

If there is anyone who is suffering from post competition blues, it must be me. Lol. It had been 2 weeks since the competition and I feel kind of lost; a sudden lost of purpose. I was wondering what Coach Raymond would be teaching Lil Shauna given that she had mastered (sort of) her flip and loop jumps and sit (pancake) spins. 

We had been making some efforts to keep up to her stretching at home. It wasnt too bad and she did stretching 3 out of the 5 weekdays. She really needed more flexibility to achieve the next level of spins and jumps. 

Class started with footwork. What to teach? What to teach?

Then, it was spins, spins and more spins. Coach Raymond worked on her almost there but lacks consistency sit spins, then on her back spins before moving to her camel spins. While she is still far from a perfect camel spins, she managed something that looked like a camel spins, holding for 2 revolutions; she needed 3. Fighting! 

We ended class with a "camel" who had a backache. Lol. Lil Shauna didnt want more practice and I didnt see the need to push her. See, I am in post competition blue! Haha.

What was exciting was seeing her HD competition pictures. Hehe.

Sorry lah, copied and pasted from the website. It would have been wonderful if she could have added on smiles to her routine but at least I know that she was looking up most of the times.

Mummy Lim

When the Cat is Away...

Popo went on a cruise holiday over the weekend. That means that we were "home alone" from Friday evening to Sunday late morning. Coincidentally, Daddy Lim was sent for 2 full days' of some speed boat training. By the end of it, he obtained some licence to drive some mini speed boat. Great! But we have no money to buy any yatch. Lol. We also havent figured out how that training is supposed to help with his work.

Anyway, it was time for the kids to learn some independence, meaning feed yourself, clean up if you mess up and put things where they come from. Washing dishes and cleaning the table were such novelty and exciting things to do on Saturday morning after bfast. Haha.

Bcos there was nobody to look after the boy, he followed us to Jcube for Lil Shauna's ice skating class. He was quite pleased to be left in Coffeemin for some computer time and free flow snacks.

It was such a rare chance to have nobody nagged over "cleaniness" and we just had to have a playdate at home.

We had boo over and I was even tempted to have her for a sleepover but reckoned that the kids cant keep secrets from Popo.

Nevertheless, the kids had plenty of fun at the basketball court. They seriously played non-stop and my role was happily reduced to eye-powering. I like. They only took a break when it was dinner time.

While I cannot whip up fanciful meals like Aunty H, I have JP right at my door step. Tadah! Kids were fed anyhow.

Boo left at about 9pm and the kids were pleased to have a blast. Saturday down.

We were on our own again on Sunday. It was decided that we would do ice time with Zaky in tow.

Followed by his TKD.

The kids then insisted that we had to do something fun. Yes, they wanted their dear mother's life.

Ended up, we bought munchies and had a simple picnic at the Jurong Park as per the kids' requests.

Then, they found new friends and had another round of blast.

Their dear mother was basking in the sun.

With her Suduko. It was such "hard work". Lol.

We left the park only when the sun started to set and Daddy Lim was finally back to have dinner with us. We... I mean, I survived!

While there wasnt really much that I needed to do, the constant bickering worn me out. With Daddy Lim, we could separate the kids. Moreover, I was yearning so much for an adult conversation. It was just a while ago that Daddy Lim didnt have to work on weekends but obviously I have grown used to such luxurery. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 129: Relak One Corner

It must be the post competition attitude. It wasnt so much of Lil Shauna but I too wanted a break from pushing her. Moreover, Daddy Lim was on course and I had to lug 2 kids. As a result, I left Lil Shauna alone in the rink after helping her with the skates.

When I was back to pick her, I saw her working on her camel spin. She is so far from it. Zzzzz. She said that Coach Raymond also taught her duno what new single jump. We didnt even do extra practice. It was truely relak lah.

We did go back on Sunday and I stayed this time. Lil Shauna said that she didnt score on her pancake spin during the competiton bcos she didnt go low enough. Coach Raymond must have seen the score breakdown. It was so wasted bcos she went so fast on her pancake spins then.

As a result, we worked on our spins and her sit spins were quite alright. She just needed consistency now; her spins also got mood swings. Zzzzzz.

As I was watching her, I was thinking she would soon be ready to progress to the next "level" of spins and jumps. We are talking about camel and more complex spins and of course the double jumps. And I realised that those are really one level beyond her. Some of those movements required flexibility and she is 木头人. She couldnt even do 1.5 round jumps off ice (she needed a quarter more) and I think we can forget about doing it on ice.

She probably didnt know the amount of hard work coming her way. Let's start with the daily stretching. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Loving my 5gb

Like many hp users, I no longer clocked huge talk time or smses but struggled with my monthly 3gb data. It sometimes get so bad at the end of the bill cycle that I have to ration my data plan to avoid incurring extra charges. Of course it is also about tapping on free wifi when the chances arise. It is a pain.

On the other hand, Daddy Lim's mobile bill is heavily subsidised by the company. With that, it is no wonder that he is on a generous plan with 6gb of data plan. I always envy him when he could freely surf the web or play games that require data bcos he could afford it. Not fair! I even found him surfing in the room, on our bed at times - a luxury that I couldnt afford bcos we couldnt get wifi from that part of our room. _÷&$_×(#($£× Angry.

The last straw came when I have problems trying to tap onto the Company's free wifi while in the office. Enough spoken, I needed to upgrade my data plan...

Tadah! For an additional $5.90 per month, I now have 5gb of data plan! Woohoo! Cartwheels! Happy dance! I love it that I now dont
 have to control my data usage. Why did I wait so long to spend that small money to make life easier? It is now my turn to lie on the bed and surf the net. Muahahaha.

Mummy Lim

All for Today, "It Is No Big Deal"!

All the weeks of hard work and extra lessons are all for today!

I was on half day leave bcos there was so much to prepare. Costume, makeup, skates, rubber bands.... I had also wanted to bring Lil Shauna for last minute practice and warm up before the actual moment.

It was another mad rush bcos there was lunch to take and homework to complete. Homework was incompleted in the little time that she had and had to be completed while on the way to the rink. Tough life.

Lil Shauna hit the ice and was practicing hard on her spins; she is least confident about her spins. She was a ball of nerves and was fustrated about not being able to nail her spins. I had to take on the cheerleading role and kept encouraging her.

After over an hour's of hard work and after many, many spins, I had to drag her for a light dinner. She had so many butterflies in her tummy and barely had space for dinner. We had some kaya toast before heading back to the rink. I was actually equally anxious, robbing my appetite too but had to pretend that it was no big deal. Lol. Truthfully, I told her that we had done all the hard work and preparation and there was nothing else we could do.

Back to the rink, it was soon time to get ready. All dolled up in no time. We were more elaborated with the makeup this time.

There was a lot of waiting bcos we were so early. We waited for over an hour before it was finally time. 

One picture with Coach Raymond before time for warming up on the ice. With her skates, she is almost as tall as him!

One with mummy too! Look at the pretty stickon tatoo that we just made over the weekend. Hehehe. The color is matchy, matchy with her costume.

She was again a ball of nerves while waiting to hit the ice. I saw the other girls chatting and playing while Lil Shauna was looking all serious, no smiles and no words at all. Lol. She looked solemnly at Coach Raymond when he was speaking to her. So funny.

Daddy Lim and Zaky were also there to support jiejie but were actually more interested in the phone while waiting.

Finally hitting the ice!

She fell during warm up while attempting her spins. Seeing her fall during her program is actually one of my greatest fears. Fortunately it was the warm up and it didnt affect her confident. She looked like she was on form, doing the jumps and spins nicely.

Six minutes went past quickly and she was the 1st on the list for the competition. I was probably 200x more anxious that she was, constantly looking to Daddy Lim for comfort. Lol.

Lil Shauna completed her program right on the dot. She was beautiful on the ice. I was so excited and happy for her when she was done but did feel that it was weird that her routine was different from the usual practice; there was extra steps. Scratch head.

It was after she was off the ice that Coach Raymond said that she forgotten her loop and toe loop jump. Oh no... That would probably impact her score by quite some. A last picture before Coach Raymond headed for dinner while we waited anxiously for the other skaters to do their stuff.

Lil Shauna was so upset with herself for forgetting her routine. It didnt help that the next few skaters were all fantastic with routine more difficult that hers. The score was announced right after each skater was done and she found herself coming in last after the 4th skaters. She was on the verge of tears.

Competition is such a cruel thing bcos we started wishing that the other skaters wouldnt do their program properly. Oopsy. I was really worried that the girl would come in last; it would be devastating for her after all these hard work. I really saw her worked hard for this competition. Other than the missing element, I think that she had been great. She was even quick enough to improvise, added in extra steps when she realised that she had missed out the element and timed the program to end right on the dot. To the general public, one wouldnt be able to tell that something was missing. Her pancake spins were fantastic and her change foot spins were so much better than usual. I have never seen her do her back spin so steadily. It was such a pity.

Lil Shauna was feeling so miserable and asked to go home without seeing the rest of the competitors. She only stayed on when the 6th skater was done and she found herself not taking the last spot. Phew! At that, she agreed to stay on to watch all the other skaters.

Drum roll..... she ended up the 4th out of the 8 skaters with a score of 14.35. Woohoo! The top 3 were in the 17s range. We met Coach Raymond on the way out. He said that the missing element was probably worth about 0.7 marks and would still set her in the 4th place regardless bcos the 3rd was too far top for her to close the gap. He did agree that Lil Shauna had done great, better than what he had expected. I couldnt agree more.

After all the tension, Lil Shauna was finally smiling again and feeling hungry. Luckily we tabaoed what we couldnt finish earlier.

Only then did she relate how anxious she had been while waiting to hit the ice but all anxiousness disappeared the moment she stepped on the ice. She also admitted how much she enjoyed skating alone on the ice and owning the rink. Overall, she enjoyed the experience very much except for the part where she forgot her routine. Haha.

She really did improve. Last year, she participated in Future Star in the interschool competition but is doing Elementary now; one level higher. Let's hope that she can advance to the next level next year.

I spent the rest of the night basking in proud mummy's moments, sending the clip to the SHSS girls' chat and the family chat. I rewatched and rewatched and rewatched the video. I dont think I would ever get sick of the video. Lol. I really think she did well, I have nothing else to ask for. Hehehe.

Mummy Lim