My Three Caballeros

It is getting harder and harder to get a decent shot of the three kids together.

I no longer aim to get them to wear matching shirts.

The aim is to get the three of them to pose together for a decent shot.

If I can't even get them to pose together, I wonder what the chances are for getting a video like this one.

Priceless Pandas

One of MyGirl's classmates made these especially for her as a Christmas gift.

Christmas Obsessions

Merry Christmas to one and all!

GI has been going to the gym regularly for the past few months. He has worked off all of the weight he gained from his 2016 trip to Manila.  He enjoys doing Muay Thai boxing among other exercises. He received some clothes this Christmas, including this singlet he is excited to use for training.  

RD takes his games seriously.  He remains at the top of the Pacman game board  at one of his Facebook messenger chat groups. He has figured out the path of greatest points yielding a perfect score of 16,800. Here he is showing off his high score against the shirt he got for Christmas.   (The shirt shows a high score of 16,440.)

MyGirl is a confessed panda lover. Her closet is a testament to that with most of her clothes being black and white and every imaginable shade of grey. She welcomes this mother and baby panda to her growing family of pandas.  

D&D

GI and RD played Dungeons & Dragons with their cousins the other night.  I the boys that MacGyver played D&D when we were in high school.  He and a bunch of other guys in our year were really into playing this game.  In fact, they managed to convince a teacher to serve as their adviser and formed a Dungeons & Dragons Club at school.  Yes, indeed, they managed to legitimise their playing games at school and actually get credit for it. 

GI was astounded.  He exclaimed, "That's my Dad!"

Remembrance Day Company

With Australia springing forward and America falling back,

I found myself chatting with my nephew at 11 PM 

as he was waiting for his breakfast pancakes.

It was 7 AM in his world.

Remembrance Day ending here.  Veterans Day starting there.

It was a holiday there so we chatted for a while.

He posed for me.  And he played the piano for me.

What more can a girl ask for?

I See the Moon

I walked to St. Mary's Cathedral after office today

and could not help but notice the moon.

It was almost 6PM but the sky was still blue

and the moon was beautiful.

I always like to look at the moon and the stars.

*

I see the moon and the moon sees me.

The moon sees somebody I want to see.

God bless the moon and God bless me

 God bless the somebody that I want to see. 

*

More Than Just Three Wise Monkeys

Mizaru: U+1F648 🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL MONKEY

Kikazaru: U+1F649 🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL MONKEY

Iwazaru: U+1F64A 🙊 SPEAK-NO-EVIL MONKEY

For some odd reason, I found myself seeing so many

SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL

items in the stores.

There were monkeys, of course, 

I found owls...

and dancers ...

and elephants

and even foxes.

Pokémon GOne

I happened to find this photo of the two boys in an old flash drive.

GI was more into Pokemon when they were kids.

It is entirely possible that the shirt RD is wearing is a hand-me-down from GI.

But when the Pokemon GO craze started in July, it was RD that went Pokemon hunting.

For a time, he would go with me to the mall and the library just to catch Pokemon.

Gotcha!

None of the kids had brought their keys

so I asked them to pose for this shot 

before I let them into the house.

MyGirl commented, "Fake height for 2/3"

because she was wearing heeled platform shoes

and GI was standing on the step going into the house.

Enter the BER months

In the home country, Christmas carols can be heard as early as 01 September.

It is to signal the arrival of the "BER" months.

They are not playing Christmas music just yet over here

but I did find Christmas decor being sold at Target today.

The Three Wise Owls

See no evil

Hear no evil

Speak no evil

I have become fascinated with cute owls lately.

I particularly like the colourful ones with big eyes.

I would not buy something just because it had an owl I liked on it.

If I don't need it but find it cute, I just take a picture. 

It's cheaper and it takes up less space.

(I just wish the store had arranged these owls in the proper order.)

Spring is Here Ahead of Time

Goodbye Winter. Spring is almost here.

Japanese Cheesecake

A shop selling Japanese Cheesecake recently opened near our office.

Many of my officemates were all abuzz over this novel dessert.

AUD18 for a small cake (!) but people are still lining up to buy.

I heard the store has a limit of one cake per person.

Luckily, MyGirl and I have a recipe we'd been using since 2011.

We decided to make some this weekend.

When we used the recommended 8" round pan the last time, our cake nearly overflowed. 

 I decided to put some of the batter into a llanera this time around.

MyGirl had her doubts but the llanera version turned out fine.

In fact, the kids finished it all up before MacGyver even got home.  

Japanese Cheesecake 

½ c caster sugar
6 egg whites
¼ t cream of tartar
250g cream cheese
100ml milk
50g butter
1 T lemon juice + 1 t lemon zest
60 g cake flour
20 g cornstarch
6 egg yolks
¼ t salt 

Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of an 8” round pan.  Line bottom and sides with parchment paper.
Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over double boiler.  Cool mixture.
Combine flour, cornstarch, salt (and zest) in another bowl.
Fold in flour, cornstarch, egg yolks, lemon juice, (and zest), and salt.  Mix well.
Whisk eggwhites and cream of tartar until soft frothy. Add sugar 2 T at a time and continue whisking until soft peaks form.
Fold a third of the eggwhites into the cream cheese then add cheese mixture to the eggwhite mixture and mix well.
Pour into prepared pan.  Bake in water bath for 1 hour 10 minutes until set and golden at 325F (160C) .

Gotta Catch 'Em All

We were leaving Bunnings Warehouse last Saturday 

when MyGirl asked if we could stop for a while so she could catch a Pokemon.

I asked her to take a screenshot with MacGyver in it.

I've Got My Eyes on You

MyGirl often shows me Snapchats she receives from friends.

The other night, MyGirl said, "Come, let's do the face swap.

I didn't think we looked THAT alike until she showed me her phone

and I asked her, "Have we swapped face already?"

I'm in a blue shirt and MyGirl is black.  She took the selfie.

Snapchat swaps the eyes and nose,

so I've literally got my eyes (and nose) on you, MyGirl.

This is neither me nor MyGirl.

This is the Snapchat's face swap version of the two of us.

Still in doubt? Look closely and check out MyGirl's fringe.

Heavenly Sign

Out of the blue we saw this cross in the sky.

HAPPY EASTER!

Coffee to Go

MyGirl has been practicing her coffee designs.

She often comes home from work 

and tells me that she made a beautiful coffee.

She then relays that she didn't have a chance to take a photo.

When I picked her up today, she was so excited as she showed me the below photo.

I was able to take a photo, she said, because the customer ordered coffee

then went to the toilet.

So MyGirl can now make good coffee as well as pretty coffee.

Your Days are Numbered, Buddy

While GI and I were seated at the Emergency Room, waiting for him to be seen, I glanced at the paperwork they had given me and was impressed at how efficient they are here.  On the paper was a printed gummed label with his name, address, date of birth, age, contact number, etc.

I said, "GI, you're already 22 years and 5 months.  Wow!"

He replied, "Yeah, I know.  I'm so old.  I'm as old as Manong was when we were still kids back home in Manila."  (Manong is his oldest first cousin, ten years his senior.)

He followed this up with. "Did you know that for babies, one day is such a long time, while for people like me, one day can go by so fast?  It's true, Mom.  One month for a baby is like a long, long time, but for me it just passes by so fast. Imagine how it is for older people.  People who are ...."

He paused because he saw me glaring at him.

I prodded him to finish his sentence, "Yes, GI?  What were you going to say?"

He slowly and sheepishly replied, "... forty?"

I gave him the death stare and reminded him, "You do know that I'm turning 50 this year, right?"

"Ummm... ahhhh....." was all he could say.

I was still staring at him, feigning hurt.

"But it's true, Mom.  Time is different for babies."

(He just didn't know when to quit.)

"GI, that's not helping."

"I love you, Mom," he said, and reached over to give me a kiss.

"I know, sweetheart,"  I replied and smiled.

But the 'time is relative' thing must still have been on his mind because he followed this up with a story about how there was a test where older people were blindfolded and asked to indicate when they felt a minute was up.  Most of the older people allowed almost two minutes to pass before saying that a minute was up.

I frowned then flashed a teasing 'if looks could kill' face at him.

He straightened up then repeated, "I love you, Mom,"  then started making waving motions with his left hand.

I laughed when I understood that he was "waving a white flag."

"You should add this," I said and started making "digging your own grave" motion.

A couple of nights later, during our dinner conversation, RD said, "Have you seen Will Smith?   He so fit but he's so old!  He's in his 50's!"

I interrupted RD and said, "What are you saying, RD?"

RD was focused on how fit Will Smith looked that it didn't register to him that he had just equated 50's to 'so old.'

"Turning fifty."  I said flatly as I tapped myself on the chest.

The implication of his words suddenly dawned on him.

"Oh!" RD cried and immediately started making waving motions with his right hand.

I called out to GI who was at his desk at the time, and relayed what had just happened.  GI laughed and motioned back to RD for him to start digging, too.

Yesterday, I was on Skype with Sunshine Girl.  GI and RD were with me while she was with her eight-year old son Ronald.  The connection wasn't the best so I told them I would be switching devices.  I closed the Skype session from the iPad and reconnected on my laptop.  When we rang back, it was only Ronald on the other side of the call.  We chatted with him and out of the blue, RD said, "Ronald, if anyone asks you how old your mom is, say she's 18.  Trust me, it will save you a lot of trouble."

I found it amusing so I typed RD's expert advice on the chat window for Sunshine Girl to read.  When Sunshine Girl returned, she noticed the message and read it out.  After reading it, she turned to her son and asked, "Ronald, how old am I?"

Without any hesitation, truthful young Ronald replied, "Forty-six."

We burst out in laughter.

RD called out to Ronald, "Ronald, Ronald, I'll teach you something else," and he promptly showed his cousin how to "wave the white flag."

Then GI joined in and taught him the motions of "digging your own grave."

You're Such a Tourist

I moved my mandatory leave schedule up from April/May to this first two weeks of March so that I could accompany RD to school and administer his eye medicine as needed.   The trip to the city takes at least 40 minutes one way so I figured I would just drop by the library or go around the city (or more specifically go window shopping) to pass the time.  

The last time I had to accompany any of my children to school and stay with them was when they were in kindergarten.  We've come a long way since then.

As we were leaving the Con on Friday, I stopped to take a picture of the school's sign and the shadow the afternoon sun had cast on the wall.  

smile emoticon

RD found it awkward yet funny.  He commented, "You're such a tourist, Mom."

If I was going to be tourist-y anyway then I wanted him in the photo so I asked him to pose under the sign.    I think this he didn't find funny, just awkward, but he did it anyway.

We are so proud that he got into the Con.  I think I'll ask him to have an annual photo taken at this spot every first week of classes.

(BTW, he already has a hundred FB likes for this photo.)

There is More Than One Way to Play the Piano

It is amazing what talented pianists can do when their fingers touch a piano (or two or more).

Someone posted a FB link to this TedTalk that featured the Washington Conservatory.
It is definitely a solo piano but is it a piano solo?

Then today, I watched seven children play some sort of round robin on four pianos at the Con.

I do look forward to listening to more piano playing.

See You Next Year

"See you next year," were the words that RD hung on to as his interview ended last 09 December.  He would not know if he would get an offer to enter the Sydney Conservatorium of Music until January 2016.

The path to this interview had its ups and downs.

RD's friend received an email for her interview schedule on the afternoon of her audition.  RD had his audition on a Wednesday morning.  The day passed and he did not receive any notice.

His told me his theory for the delayed feedback from the Con was that he had his audition on the first day of the piano auditions while his friend's one was on the last day of the violin auditions.

Thursday came and went.  No email.

Friday morning, he waited.  Friday evening, he waited some more.

By Saturday morning, he could no longer wait.  He sent out an email to the school enquiring if they sent out email notices to those that did not pass the audition. In other words, he wanted to know whether no news meant good news or bad news.  

On Sunday afternoon, we heard RD let out a loud painful cry.  We ran to check what had happened. Apparently he received a reply from someone at the Con saying that if you did not receive an email for an interview, it meant that you did not pass the audition.  

RD was heartbroken.  If he did not pass the audition, that meant that he could not get into the Con.  

He had indicated several other choices in his uni applications.  Aside from the music-related courses, his fall-back choice would have been Psychology.  But given a choice (and a chance), the Con is where he wanted to be.

We decided to drive out to distract him a bit.  We knew that there was nothing we could do to help him at this point but we did not want him to be cooped up at home wallowing in self-pity. 

If he didn't pass the audition, then it meant that he would have to pursue something else.  We knew that.  He knew that.  We knew that he knew but we also knew that getting into the Con meant a lot to him.  

He is not the type to wallow in self-pity.  In fact, by Monday morning his mind was already working out what he would do in order to make his way into the course of his choice.  RD's resolve to pursue a career in Music Education was strengthened by this unfortunate set back. It helped that he was able to reach out to his former piano teacher who is in London who gave RD the pep talk he needed and made some suggestions. 

It was past 4 PM on Monday when my mobile rang and it was RD.  He almost never calls me so I knew it was important.  He had the most amazing news to relay.  He said that he paused from a video he was watching, checked his email, and found a message in his Inbox from the Con advising him of his interview schedule for the coming Wednesday.  He was ecstatic.  He said it was totally unexpected but he was so happy to know that he passed his audition and was up for an interview.

He went for his interview on the 9th of December.  The interview seemed to have gone well.  

With his interview ticked off, RD was now waiting for HSC and ATAR results to come out on 16 December and 17 December, respectively.  When those dates arrived, we were extremely happy with his results.  He got five band 6's and two band 5's, and his ATAR was 98.3.  He needed three band 5s  including one in English to get into his first choice of Music Education.

It was now another waiting game for an offer to be made.  

When the offer came on 20 January 2016, he was slightly disappointed because he was not able to get into his Music Education.  He was offered a slot in Music Studies, which was his second choice. When he asked why he didn't get an offer for Music Education, he was told that it was because his band 5 for English as a Second Language (ESL) was not counted as a valid band 5 in English.  This was not something that was disclosed to him when he was making his choices in Year 11 nor was it in any of the published materials RD had seen.   He had assumed that ESL would suffice as an equivalent for English.  

RD would not allow this technicality to hinder his dreams.  He enrolled in his required classes for Music Studies but selected the subjects that would enable him to align as close as possible to a Music Education degree.  Somewhere along the line, he will make his move to shift.  In the meantime, he is just happy to have gotten accepted into the university of his dreams. 

When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A ....

I found this book from RD's primary school days. It is a collation of what the year 6 children wanted to be when they grew up.

Eleven-year old RD had written:

When I grow up, I want to be a pianist because I like playing it, it's fun, and I'm good at it.

I didn't take it seriously back then even if I knew that music ran deeply in his veins.

In his last years of High School, he chose to take English as a Second Language (ESL), the usual Math, Math Extension, Physics, Software Design and Development, Business Studies, plus Music.  I remember accompanying him to school when he was year 11 to talk with his music teacher so that he could change classes from Music 1 to Music 2 because he wanted more out of his Music classes.  I didn't realise at that time that this was a strategic move on his part.  I just thought he didn't find Music 1 challenging enough for him.  Music 1 was geared towards music performance while Music 2 is more theory-based, more serious and is oriented towards a higher study of music.  

I knew he loved playing the piano but I didn't realise that he LOVED playing the piano.  This reality sank in when the time came for him to choose a course for university and he announced that he wanted to go to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (the Con), study Music Education, and become a music teacher.

I would imagine that people who go for the Con are those that have had continuous lessons on their instrument of choice since they were very, very young. Plus they would have their respective instructors around to guide them and train them in preparation for the Con audition.  This was not really the case for RD.

MacGyver's mom is a piano major and a piano teacher. She gave piano lessons to all of her grandchildren, RD included.  He could not have had a better teacher to start him off with the piano. RD had his first lessons in 2006 when he was eight.  These would be given on weekends when we visited MacGyver's folks.  MacGyver's mom would announce, "Time for piano lessons," and the grandchildren would promptly take their turn in front of the baby grand piano in the living room for their piano lessons.   

We moved to Australia in October 2009.  RD may not have had piano lessons but he still loved to play the piano.  I sent out this message to my family in November

RD volunteered to play the piano at school for their week 7 "walk-in".  Every Monday, as the children walk into the hall for the Monday morning gathering (and announcements), some other children perform.  On the 2nd week of school, they were asking for volunteers to perform for the coming weeks  and  RD volunteered to play THE ENTERTAINMENT [sic]. He was slated for week 7 (which is next week).  When we moved out of MumofFive's place (where they have several keyboards), MumofFive's sister lent us her daughter's keyboards.  However, this was a temporary loan and MacGyver didn't want the children's interest in music to be cut-off by the loss of the musical instrument.

So after hours of trying to find a decent bargain at eBay, checking out websites and physical music stores, we finally decided to get the kids new keyboards.

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail.html?CNTID=555809

That Welcome to the Jungle booklet came out in December 2009.

RD quickly outgrew the Yamaha NP 30 we had purchased in November 2009.  In August 2011, his keyboard got upgraded to a Yamaha P95B. The P95B is also a digital piano but has 88 keys as compared to the 76 keys of the NP 30 he was using.  The new keyboard feels more like a piano, having weighted keys, which MAcGyver believed would help RD develop the right technique in piano playing. We got him a decent piano bench in May 2013 and later on he got a good piano pedal c/o his pianist godmother.

All this time RD was practicing on his own and learning by himself.   In 2014, when it was very apparent that RD was really serious about playing the piano, we got him started with piano lessons. His piano teacher had been his Music teacher in Year 9.  He was an alumnus of the High School who had graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium.  He lived nearby and was giving piano lessons part time.  It was perfect for RD.  

RD's piano lessons went on for almost two years until his teacher left for London in mid-2015 to pursue further studies.  This left RD on his own as he took his Year 12 Music Assessments, the HSC (High School Certificate) exams, and the audition for the Conservatorium. 

The 2nd of December 2015.  RD had spent many hours practicing for this day.  This was the day that would determine whether or not he would get started on a career in Music.  This was the day of his audition at the Con.

His audition was held in the morning.  MacGyver drove him to the Con and waited outside while the auditions were being held.  RD had prepared three pieces to play.  When the audition was over, MacGyver asked how it went.  RD said he was not sure because he was nervous, he made a couple of mistakes, they had stopped him soon after he had started playing his pieces, and they didn't even ask for his third piece.  In addition, he said he was a tad intimidated at the number of people that sat in his panel.  His friend who had her violin audition the week before had a panel of four while he had at least seven.

The audition was only the first of a series of hurdles RD had to get through before getting an offer for his chosen course at the Con.  He still had a music skills test scheduled for that afternoon and he needed to pass an interview to get into the university's Music Education program.  If he didn't pass his audition, he would not get a call for an interview.  RD also had to get acceptable HSC and ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) results to be eligible for the course.  He had completed his HSC exams in Octoberr and was just waiting for the HSC and ATAR results due for release in the middle of December.

MacGyver and RD had an early lunch together after the audition.  Since MacGyver had work that afternoon, he just dropped RD off at the Con before heading off.  I offered to pass by RD after his sight reading test so that he would have company in the bus ride going home.  Fortunately my boss allowed me to work from home.  We want RD to feel that we are there for him in case he needs us.

RD and I met at the Botanical Garden right beside the Con. I asked him to pose for some pictures.  I posted them last year under RD at the Sydney Conservatorium.    I wanted to capture RD at this turning point in his life as he embarked on his journey in pursuit of his dreams.  If you read the caption on the first picture, I had written "This is the first of many pictures of RD and the Conservatorium."   At that time, RD had just finished his audition and although he was done with his HSC exams, he had not received the results yet. We didn't know his ATAR, we did not know if he would get an interview at the Con, we did not know if he would get an offer to study there, yet I was optimistic that RD would get in.

Today, eighteen year old RD said:

When I grow up, I want to be a pianist (still true) because I like playing it (still true), it's fun (still true), and I'm good at it (now I'm not so sure).