Ice Skating 76: Sharpened Skates

We have never sharpened Lil Shauna's skates since we bought it a year back. We were told that it was long overdue before Skate Bangkok but it was crazy to attempt to sharpen her skates before a competition. Anyway, she didn't complain about losing gripe and was just happy skating in them.

Skate Bangkok came and go. We procrastinate a little and finally brought her skates to Coach Sally's shop only to be told that she had millions of skates queuing up and asked us to bring Lil Shauna's skate a week later. We procrastinate a little bit more and a week became a few weeks. When we finally brought it back, we were told that the machine was sent for serving and wouldn't be back until a month later. Zzzzzz...

The machine must be on a long sabbatical leave bcos it had been over a month and it still hasn't come home. I asked QE for help, the physio student who helped in the off ice a while back and was given Uncle Jimmy's contact. Finally, after so many moons, we finally got her skates sharpened. Yes, they were in terrible state. I could imagine Uncle Jimmy skating his head when Daddy Lim brought them to him for sharpening. Daddy Lim told Uncle Jimmy that Lil Shauna was a beginner and he gave her more "stability". I am not quite sure what that meant but suspect that she would had a hard time skating with her sharpened skates. I can tell the future....

We turned up on the ice earlier than usual bcos we needed to run in her skates. The moment she hit the ice, she said that her skates feel so different and she cannot move. She looked normal to me on the ice but I think she needed to push a lot harder.

Teacher Raymond heard that her skates were just sharpened and told her that she must keep skating before class to run in the skates. Though she complained big time to me (of course, she cant talk to Teacher Raymond until now) that she cannot move fast, cannot spin properly, she obediently stayed on the ice. For me, it was one of those "don't expect too much bcos something is not right" sessions. See no evil, hear no evil, I even left the rink to buy coffee. Haha.

The lesson wasn't too bad. Newly sharpened skates isn't an excuse for Teacher Raymond. She did the usual scatch spin forward and backward and was taught the entry to backward spin. Teacher Raymond also made her do sit spins - her far from optimal posture sit spins. Her ka no strength; I think she needs to eat more chicken feet and frog leg.

After class, Lil Shauna said that the class was good despite the skates. She said that Teacher Raymond told her that her loop jump is a little bit more to a full circle.

Did she continue to skate after lesson? Of course not! It would be a pain after every sharpening, to think that Uncle Jimmy said that the skates had to be sharpened after every 45 hours. Good luck. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Mother and Daughter Goal

101 - to wear similar outfit.

I have been waiting for a long time; for her to grow old enough.

Finally... and jumper is so in now. I had never own a jumper and had been waiting to wear one. Hehehe.

Not only matching outfit; we completed it with exact same shoes.

$15 a pair from Rubi. She finally grew big enough to wear the smallest adult size. Yeah!

Daddy Lim says that we are Twindle Dee and Twindle Dum.

Mummy Lim

When All Gadgets Break Loose

We enforced no gadget nights for a few weekdays night. We all survived very well including the adults. I tried very hard to not touch my phone and I think Daddy Lim put in the same effort too. On some nights, we played boardgame, then we fixed some toys on others. The kids didn't have much free time on weekday nights anyway.

I wasn't that evil to totally ban gadget. The kids were given the choice to choose 2 out of the 5 weekday nights for gadget uses (and we had to give them the ipad today due to unforeseen circumstances too).

The moment when it was declared as "gadget day", all gadgets broke loose.

I had to be thankful that we didn't have much time before bedtime came along. We will try our very best.

Mummy Lim

1st Official Complaint

Zaky's Chinese teacher called me up yday morning. Yes, his 1st official complaint and it is only February. ^#/"&"£*(!@&#&

The class was asked to sit together on the floor for lesson with their textbook. A boy brought along his pen and was playing with it. Zaky was of course 200% distracted; what can be less interesting than class? When the boy stopped, he asked to play with the pen. When he took out the pen cap, the ink leaked and it somehow stained the shirt of the girl on his other side. Zzzzzzzz.

His teacher said that she will also call the girl's parent to inform what happened and I guessed we might have to compensate a shirt if requested. I was secretly glad that it wasn't some other major property damage or that somebody got hurt. Oh yes, the boy is capable of those.

When we were home, the boy was feeling sheepish but soon started arguing that it wasn't entirely his fault... it never is. He did admit to playing with his friend's pen but he didn't know how the ink got into the girl's shirt. This I believed and think that it is probably more an accident than intentional.

I also sat him down later in the night and asked him if he apologised to the girl. At the same time, warned him against future complaints. He must be feeling guilty bcos he asked for big hugs after the talk, just like how he usually would in his guilty mode.

So, 1st official complaint. How many more to come? His CNL kindergarten teachers have never made any official complaints to me. They did feedback to Popo frequently and to me during the PTM (I rarely attend anyway) about how active and mischievous he was. It was especially tough for him too given that Lil Shauna set such a high standard; always the obedient and model student. She is an angel in school, a total contrast to Zaky's boisterous behavior.

Oh well, I hope he will not get into more troubles. At least he is losing his things less frequently now.

Mummy Lim

No Gadget Day

Before Zaky entered Primary school, I had resorted to hiding the tablets or risk coming home to kids who were glued to gadgets. Youtube is so addictive, they can watched videos after videos and be stuck for hours. Are the kids addicted to gadgets? Not exactly, especially if there are other distractions; they would gladly choose a playdate or an outdoor activity over ipad time. Unfortunately, they were usually holed at home during weekdays.

I usually lose control during the school holidays. School is afterall out. That was what happened during the last December holidays. Thankfully, we had a fair bit of travel plans and the kids didn't spend that much time at home.

Then come the school year. With school and student care, the kids didn't spend that much time at home as well and I didn't bother playing hide and seek Mr iPad. However, it suddenly dawned on me that the kids had been stuffing their face into the screen most weekdays’ night and weekends recently. The adults are to blame. The parents become lazy, hugging our phones and leaving the kids to hug their gadgets when we are home. Daddy Lim and I each got addicted to different game recently and my k-drama is constantly calling out to me. Popo is no saint. She is always so prompt in making sure that the iPad is fully charged and would gladly pushed out the ipad to the kids so long as nobody makes a noise.

Enough is enough. Yday, I hid the tablets and declared that it was a no gadget day. It was PURE HARD WORK. Of course the adults had to observe as well and I caught Daddy Lim a few times, asking him to put down his phone. There were quite some protests from the kids; cold turkey is always tough but they were totally fine when there were other things to work on.

We played pick up sticks when we were free.

Popo usually didn't mind to “look after” Zaky. The idea is: she watched her TV and Zaky be thrown the iPad, so long as he doesn't make a noise. Given that gadget was banned, she had to entertain Zaky, share the TV and miss her 3pm must-watched and so-interesting drama. She also hinted that Zaky will be soooooo difficult to manage bcos he would be soooo bored and whined a lot. Though she didn't outwardly say it, she dropped obvious hints that I should either surrender the ipad or bring Zaky with me for Lil Shauna’s ice skating practice and off ice training.

To stay true to my words, I took the 2nd option. It wasn't that tough. We didn't stay in the rink since Lil Shauna only had 45 mins to practice before off ice. We walked the mall a little and he was busy with a yo-yo that he brought along.

While Lil Shauna was at her off ice training, he did his little yo-yo training. I even got him a new “powerful” yo-yo and he concentrated so hard on doing it properly. The only time that he bugged me was to make sure that I was looking at him playing his yo-yo and the new trick that he devised. Haha.

We headed home after off ice training and the kids asked to go play with the neighbor kids but also with the parents. We played some basketball and some badminton before dinner at 6pm bcos I was hungry. Haha.

We had the evening slightly easier bcos Zaky was nursing a light fever and was so tired and went to bed at 8pm. Lil Shauna is always capable of self-entertaining with other non-gadget stuff.

How was the no gadget day? It was definitely harder work than usual but nobody got killed. In fact, I was sneaking in a game towards Zaky’s bedtime, he caught me and reminded me that it was no gadget day. I immediately put the phone away and pretended that it was my 1st time breaking the rule. Haha. The kids are definitely more adaptable than the adults. Let’s see how often we should implement this no garget day. I hear the adults groaned louder than the kids. ;p

Mummy Lim

Red Tip Grading Test

It is again time for the grading test. It was a mad rush trying to fit in the 5 extra sparring lessons on top of his weekly classes. But we made it, completing the required classes the week right before his grading test. Phew.

As logic goes, the test gets more difficult as he progresses. He took a longer time to memorise his 20-step pattern this time and was still at risk of forgetting his steps right before the test. Nevertheless, it didn't diminish his excitement of getting upgraded. 

Daddy Lim managed to get a morning off and sent us to the test venue. After making sure that Zaky was in the proper attire, the Master made them practice their pattern; a final attempt to get things right.

The kids were then lined up according to height before entering the grading hall so that they would spar against somebody almost their built. 

The most difficult part is always to guess which one on the screen is your kid. Lol. Though we did get to see what was going on in the grading hall, the image was muffled and the kids all looked about the same especially when they are all about the same size and pattern. 

I think I found Zaky - the front row, extreme right. It was all thanks to his new haircut. 

He executed his pattern properly, remembering all 20 steps. I can't tell much about sparring; it was contactless and the kids all looked like bunnies jumping around. Lol. The last was his back-hook kicks, which he didn't do very well, mixing up the landing foot. Will that fail him? I have no idea.

The grading test was done in under 10 mins and the boy came bouncing back. He too said that he didn't do well for his kicks but couldn't explain why. Well, cannot be undone. We will know for sure in 2 weeks' time.

Mummy Lim

Inspired

Some of the girls joined some 10km run this morning. Running is not in my blood. I will never see myself do a 10km run; it sounded more like a torture to me.

Though I didn't like it, my body needed the exercise and jogging is always the easiest and most importantly, the quickest. As a result, I had been pushing my lazy bum onto the treadmill most weekends mornings.

Yday, I struggled through a 3.2km. I feel like dying after running the usual 3km at a faster than normal speed. This morning, I was inspired by the girls doing their 10km and I was motivated to do a 5km on the treadmill.

I did it! 5km! How long has it been since I managed to convince my body to run more than 4km?!

Feeling good with all the sweat pouring down.... for a while only though. My legs ached like crazy now. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 75

While on the way to the rink, Lil Shauna asked when the next competiton would be taking place and that she would like to participate. She said that she would practice hard and do better. Sounds like music to my ears.

With this kind or conviction, the ice skating session must be good right? I wish. 1st, we forgot the socks and luckily Teacher Sally's shop was opened and we bought a new pair. The moment she hits the ice, it was like Superman skating on kryptonite. She complained about slimy feet bcos of the new socks, then the skates feeling different and she cannot spin. There were 200 complaints. We started only at 11am and she spent more time looking around than practicing before lesson. I wanted to vomit blood. At times like that, it was best for me to look away and pretend that I am not there.

Interestingly, it was much better during class. Teacher Raymond worked on her spins and later jumps. While on her spins, he gave her a tip to position her arms and her spin instantly became so much better. She also figured out that she should place her arms slightly forward, where she could see while spinning. When I happened to look up, I saw her executing a nice forward scratch spin to backward spin to another forward scratch spin. It was quite ok. Teacher Raymond made her do the different jumps as well as her loop jumps for the later part of class.

At the end of the class, I checked with Teacher Raymond on her progress. She still didn't land any loop jumps but he said that the rest were ok. He also confirmed that the next competition would be Skate Asia in Jakarta in August 2017. Lil Shauna can prepare to do freestyle 3 then; she did freestyle 2 for the Bangkok competition.

Maybe bcos the class went well and also bcos her friends were in the rink, she decided to stay on to practice more. The practice was a lot better.

She was totally exhausted after the practice. By the way, the color theme is pink and purple. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Non-Foodie goes Chomp

We had a department dinner on Thursday evening. My colleagues are mostly foodies and they know exactly where all the good food are hiding.

This time we went to the New Ubin tucked somewhere in Hillview, Lam Soon Building. The restaurant was located in the non-aircon canteen but it was a breezy night.

I have never heard of New Ubin, let alone tried it. I is mountain tortoise. It is so popular that reservation must be made in advance. The place was constantly full-house during the whole time that we were there.

Of course I am never involved with the ordering. One of the colleagues pre-ordered this wagu beef bcos it is so popular. I am never a beef fan. Many times, I find it too bloody, raw or too tough and dry and most of all, too beefy. Even for steamboat, I prefer pork to beef.

Then comes this beef.

For a slab like this, it cost a freaking $120! If I am on my own, it would probably never make it to our table. I tried it and I was wowed! Totally blown away. Yes, me, a non-foodie and non-beef lover.

It was really good, not only was it marinated and grilled to the right taste, it really melts in the mouth and is so juicy. I have never tried steak like that. There wasn't this beefy taste too. You can guess that the beef didn't last very long; it was attacked from left, right, center. Poor beef.

The rest of the food were ok but definitely below par when compared to the beloved beef. Lol. I kept thinking of the beef since Thursday. No joke. I get reminded more whenever I see posters on steak. Maybe I shouldnt have tried the beef. Maybe I should consider upgrading to become a foodie. Lol. Oh boy, I miss the beef.

Mummy Lim

Chicken

It was the spot that we go to wait for the school bus every morning.

One day, Zaky exclaimed, "Mummy, a chicken was here!".

Haha.

Mummy Lim