One More Creation

I showed RD the draft of my latest blog post which had his snake cube creations.  He gave it the stamp of approval so I hit PUBLISH.   However he felt that I had missed something.  I told him that I published all the pictures I had taken.  

"There is something missing."   That is what I would have heard if I could read minds.

True enough, in a couple of minutes, he came over with a creation he had shown me the night before while we were watching the Australian Open game between Federer and Nadal.   This particular one was a two-piece creation which started off with two identical pieces which could be connected by simply flipping over a part of one of the toys.

Here are the two pieces ...

They are identical. 

This is what it looks like on the other side.

Flip the end of one of the toys

And connect the two pieces together.

   

This is what the final product looks like. 

AWESOME!

Go Retro!

Do you remember this toy?

It's called the Rubik's Snake Puzzle.

We had brought two of these from back home.  They were in the one of the plastic crates that held the children's toys.  When I was looking for things to donate last year, I rediscovered them and deemed only one of them to be in decent condition for donating (the other one had too many missing pieces).  I donated the good one and set the other one aside. 

When RD saw the other one, he picked up the toy and started playing with it.  He pulled out the rest of the coloured pieces and was left with the bare toy. Over the next couple of days, he could be seen twisting and turning the toy while he was in front of his PC. 

Eventually his creativity was limited by the fact that he only had one toy.  He asked if we had a second one.  Sadly, I had to tell him that I had donated the other one.  

I didn't think much of it because I figured it was just one of those toy phases and that in a couple of days the toy would be gathering dust again.

However as the weeks passed, I kept seeing the toy in his hands.   I decided having two toys to play with would greatly improve the fun factor for RD.  I checked eBay and asked MacGyver to complete the purchase.  If we were lucky, the toy would come in time for his birthday.

The package did not come until the New Year but it was surely worth the wait.  We asked RD to open up the package and when he was what was inside, his face just lit up.

Here are some of his two-piece creations.

These two are made using two identical shapes that can "volt in."

(1)

(2)

This heart-like wonder has one piece fitting into the other.

Angel Beats

When RD was hospitalised before Christmas, one of the items he asked MacGyver to bring for him was his headphones so that he could listen to music.  Being RD, he requested his dad to add a splitter to the list so that I would be able to listen to his music with him.   

So that is what we did at the hospital when RD was not busy beating me at cards, we listened to his music together as we lay side by side on his hospital bed.

I was happily surprised to find that his playlist was not too loud.  In fact, many of the songs were quite relaxing.  Some of the music we listened to were familiar because they were pieces that RD had learned to play on the piano and occasionally practice without his headphones plugged in.  One of them was My Soul, Your Beats! which is the opening music of one of the animes he watches.   

After our hospital stint, I asked RD to copy over some of his anime music into my phone.

On my way home from the office the other day, I listened my RECENTLY ADDED songs.  As a result, RD's music ended up playing in my head.  So much so that last week, while MyGirl and I were working in the kitchen, I started whistling the tune I could hear in my head.

MyGirl burst out in laughter, "Mom! I know that song."  She recognised the song because RD had recently introduced his animes to her.  

Oops!  That's what I get for thinking out loud.

Listen to the song.  Check out 2:57 to about 3:25 and maybe you will understand why.

I Am Here

I grew up in a big family.  I am one of ten children.   We were raised to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.  

Believe me, this motto has helped us in various situations over the years.  Think long trips, small children, and weak bladders.  Father hoped for the best but Mother came prepared. Kidding aside, in general Mother hoped for the best but Father prepared for the worst.  We were trained to consider various scenarios and prepare accordingly.

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst -- that is a hard habit to break.  As with all things, there is an upside as well as a downside to living with this way of thinking.  The good thing is that you're either prepared or are preparing.  The bad thing is that sometimes you're TOO BUSY preparing.  (There, I said it.)

Therein lies my problem.  I often get caught up worrying about things that are yet to come that I am unable to relax and appreciate the beauty of the present.   When that happens, I am not here,  I am some time else.  

I need a constant reminder that it is important to be mindful of the present moment.  Sometimes we are here but we are not really here, we see but we don't really see.   

Owning up to the situation, I admit that sometimes I am here but I am not really here.  At times I see but I don't really see.   This lack of presence, this absence, affects relationships...my relationships...all of my relationships.   

The four mantras were fresh in my mind.  They seemed to be the words I sometimes failed to hear or failed to say ... to MacGyver, to my children, to my family, to my friends, to my colleagues, etc.     
   

I am here for you.

I know you are there and I am very happy.

I know that you suffer, that is why I'm here for you.

I suffer. Please help me.

At mass today, the priest reminded us that we have to be awake to God's presence.  God is always present, more often than not, we are the ones who are not.

I guess this is why I was drawn to the four mantras when I first came across them.  It did not matter that the words had come from a Buddhist monk.  They seemed to me the words I was looking for in my struggle to improve my relationship with God.
   

I am here for you.

I know you are there and I am very happy.

I know that you suffer, that is why I'm here for you.

I suffer. Please help me.

Midnight Serendipity

It was 11 PM in Australia and I was about to turn in for the night.  I switched to the tab to close my Gmail but I noticed an email from Sunshine.   It was quite unusual to receive a message from her.  In the first place she does not sent out a lot of email (unless she's at the office or is at home doing work remotely),  and in the second place, it was the middle of the night in her side of the world.   Naturally I had to read her email.  

Her message was short and straight to the point. She could not sleep.  It was 3AM in California.  She was hoping to catch someone in Skype but could not remember her username and password.   (Yes, the two of us are definitely related.)

Anyway, given that "call for help" the least I could do was email back her username, right? So I logged in to Skype and (lo and behold) found Sunshine online.  

Seeing her online meant that she did not need my help to recall her username and obviously she'd also figured out her password.  Of course I had to ring her up even if it was the middle of the night here and even more so the middle of the night there.   How often would I get the opportunity to talk with her? She is hardly ever online during my timezone.  In fact, she is probably hardly ever online considering she almost forgot her username and password.   (Yes, definitely my sister.)

So we were able to chat for a while.   

There was serendipity in our middle of the night call.  I think the call helped me more than it helped her.  She was the one who could not sleep, remember?  Well I was the one who had a massive headache and eye-ache that lasted over three days.  I was the one that stepped out of the office on Tuesday to get my eye pressure checked and finally took a day off from work on Thursday to go see a doctor.  (If you are interested, my eye pressure was normal and by the time I saw the GP on Thursday, I was feeling much better.  The doctor didn't find anything and just advised me to take the day off.)  

MacGyver keeps telling me it is the stress and lack of sleep.  I believe him.  I really do.  And I am trying to work my way around the issues that are causing my stress and anxiety.  He often says I'm the bullheaded Taurus woman and that I don't listen to him, but in reality I think it is more the teflon brain at work causing me to forget the things he patiently repeats when I am in distress.  

Admittedly I am constantly trying to find my peace.  Well, Sunshine mentioned something in line with this during our conversation.  Aside from giving me sound advice, she introduced me to a Buddhist monk named Thich Nhat Hanh.  (In case you are curious, it was Oprah who introduced her to this monk.)

Our midnight chat was cut short because little Ronald woke up and jump-started her Saturday.

I took the opportunity to learn a bit more about Thich Nhat Hanh before going to bed.   

So far, I have picked up the following 

• be passionately present for the here and now
• respond with compassion
• keep the peace in yourself
• deep listening will help the other person suffer less
• shake off wrong perceptions of yourself  
• learn from your sufferings 

I believe everyone can learn something from him.  You can read more on his four matras. 

The Four Mantras of Relationships

Darling, I am here for you.

Darling, I know you are there and I am very happy.

Darling, I know that you suffer, that is why I'm here for you.

Darling, I suffer. Please help me.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Trees for Trains

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” 
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

They are building the train station here at our suburb in the site of the old Arthur Whitling Park.  The Anzac Day Dawn Service was held at the park on 25 April 2012 for the last time.  Last year, they began the demolition work that started off with the removal of the Anzac Memorial ... then they removed the trees. 

On 07 November 2013, I saw that the small trees had been removed.

I knew that these trees would be next.

There was one last tree on 08 November

 

I knew it would be gone by 09 November

You can still see the last tree ...

... it's gone now.

We attended our first ever Anzac Day Dawn Service in 2009

at the Arthur Whitling Park

when we first landed in Australia.

That site is forever lost.

Super Frog

I saw this poster at QVB and I just had to take a picture.

It reminded me of a GI kidbit.

The year was probably 1996 or 1997.  GI was about 3 or 4.  I had to bring him to the office. MacGyver set him up with some games in the laptop to keep him busy.  One of my teammates came over to keep him company at some point during the day.

"Hi GI.  What are you playing?"

"Superfwog,"  GI said.

"Oh, Superfwog,"  my friend said, repeating what GI had said.

GI was not pleased at being misunderstood so he patiently corrected my friend.

He said, "Not Superfwog.  SuperFWOG!"

Shower the People You Love With Love

H A P P Y     N E W    Y E A R !!!

This is a reminder for me.

May you have a wonderful year ahead filled with lots of  LOVE.