More Than Meets the Eye

“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.” - Optimus Prime

Watched Transformers the Movie this evening and this I have to say; the effects were CRAZY REALL!!!! I was blown away…I can just sit there and listen to the clanks of the metal in the fight scenes and watch these huge robots go at each other. And Optimus was so ‘manly’…ha ha.

A problem I had was that the Deceptecons were portrayed as more intelligent than the Autobots although I guess the Autobots are the upholders of justice and ideals and make it through their bravery and courage. Perhaps that is the lesson to be learnt.

Another thing that I felt cheated about was that they did not play the original theme or at least do a remake of it for the movie.

What tickled me was when Bumble Bee started playing all the 80s songs when Sam was trying to give Mikaela (whom I think is too sexy for the movie!) a ride. All my favourites: “Baby Come Back” “Drive” “Sexual Healing”.

In short, I totally enjoyed myself.

Made me wanna go look for the old 80s cartoon series.

Can’t wait for the sequel.

All eyes and all ears...

I did 2 days of observing the children in the programme. It was interesting. I felt odd at first like I was intruding into their personal space. Some of them stared at me and a few approached me straight and engaged me in conversation. Kind of unnerving. Even though I have a handful of nieces and nephews, it still feels a little awkward talking to other people’s children. Guess I need to practice the art of conversing with kids.

Magnificent Abundance

My third nephew was born this morning!! Fayyad Qusyairi - Magnificent Abundance. Ha ha though he looked like a grumpy little old man. Very fierce his face. But adorable all the same.

Squiggles

I had fun today!!! It’s like reliving my childhood. We did this activity called squiggle arts where you basically…squiggle. It’s a form of art therapy actually for working with kids who don’t want to talk. You can either interact with them by drawing squiggles or make up other drawings from there. The final activity was a squiggle pizza where we answered questions about ourselves verbally and via squiggles. Giggles and laughter were all around. It was fun making the weird lines and colouring with crayon. It felt like I was a kid again. Here’s my slice of the pizza.

Of Boys and Hockey

I just came back from a trip to KL. Not a vacation exactly, I was there to accompany Saz who brought her Hockey ‘C’ Boys on a training trip. So basically I only saw green those couple of days – the hockey green that is. Didn’t mind it at all though. I learnt a new game and enjoyed watching the ‘adorable’ boys play. Ha ha got a few favourites.

The only dark cloud was we got food poisoning or some version of stomach flu. I caught it mildly but Saz had a very bad episode. A few boys got it quite bad too. So it was our first time going to a Malaysian small private hospital (kind of like a polyclinic). We had to wait a while because the doctor on duty was delivering a baby upstairs.

Didn’t really go shopping either. Got a bottle of chinchalok (fermented shrimp I think) and peanut biscuits from the stop-over at Malacca. But my best buy has got to be the rip-off Patrick Star I bought from Lucky Gardens (Spongebob Squarepant’s best friend in case you didn’t know or as my Kak Ngah fondly calls him, ‘The Tongue’).

(Ah there he sits on my bed...)

I think Saz was almost embarrassed to be seen with me and the other adults thought I was getting it for my niece or nephew hee hee.

So apart from a gaseous tummy, boys for company, my name changed to ‘Deana’ (Saz’s colleague Raj blabbered that out after forgetting my name), it was an enjoyable short trip.

Sigh…wishing for another getaway already!

Workshop 1

Started the first of the series of workshops for my new job. It was on observation and profiling of the children. This I must say; for the first time in my working life, I felt the most comfortable at a workshop. For once, I spoke a lot, asked questions, I really participated. Ha ha.

I guess what I was used to previously were people who felt they had something to prove, to outshine others. That really sucked for me. Here, were ladies in their 20s – 50s who were rather laid back and easy going. There for a common purpose, to help to develop literacy in kids who need it. I felt so inspired. I also felt less alone in thinking whether we were cut out for the job. The rest felt the insecurities and apprehensions too! That was a great morale booster.

Looking forward to future sessions. Need to pack my bag now. Heading for KL tomorrow.

Visioning

I borrowed a book recently from the library about this concept called Visioning. A focused planning process to bring your dreams to fruition. It’s about planning and visualizing the life you want. You envision it in your mind and translate that on paper through collages – visual affirmations. I went through the exercise and came out with some amount of clarity or at least inspiration.

Check out this series of collages that I did. They represent the themes in my life that I want to work on.







Tough journey ahead I know, but I must persist.