Friday, March 31, 2017

Parenting

Child: It's hard to be a parent, yes, we acknowledge that.

Parent: It's hard to be a kid, yes, they know that too.

Child: Parents always envision mini replicas of themselves on us, hoping that someday sometime, we would live up to what they want us to be. Yet, we are not. We are unique individuals, of different minds and bodies; we have differing aspirations.

Parent: Our children are not listening to us; they think we are always nagging at them. Why can't they just understand that we only want them to be the best and doing well is for their own sake? We've led hard lives and understood that hard work pays off eventually. We never ever want our children to stay up late nor be outside for too long.

Child: They just don't understand, don't they? Times have changed - no longer is hard work associated to having a good comfortable life; the equations to success just doesn't match up. There are now many different ways to achieve something; it's not always the direct route that nets success. Yes, we stay up late but we are ultimately adolescents - there's bound to be festering bubbling energy within us. No, we do not loiter outside just to make you worry about us - we can handle ourselves. "Smoking is bad. Don't join gangs. Avoid fights" We know all these, so please stop nagging.

We are good children. We just want you to see that.

Parent: Our parents have led tough lives, they treated us harshly but we know it's for our own good. We must in turn provide the best education for our children, inculcate the ideal values into our children and mould them into responsible leaders of tomorrow. They do not know how much we care for them, for we ourselves only learn to cherish our parents after they are gone. So yes, we will keep scolding. Yes, we will keep nagging.

We are good parents. We just want you to see that.
_____________________________________________________________

Ever wondered whether there is a perfect set of parenting techniques? The answer is no.

Because every child is different. Likewise, every parent is different too. The parenting style cannot simply be adopted from our past; we live in the present, therefore the parenting style has to adapt to suit the child too. If either the child or the parent does not communicate, how are they to know if they have each other's interests at heart?

I believe there are situations to use "rightfully wrong" or "wrongfully right". Parents and their children can be both wrong yet right in their own aspects. Anger should almost never be shown to each other; it is an emotion, not an action. So don't release your anger, curb it, cool it down, explain rationally. Afterall, anger reduces your lifespan.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Johor Bahru (again)!

This is my 2nd trip to JB. However, this time we decided to head further inwards to check out KSL mall instead.

I was slightly late this time :( sorry girl! 下不为例. We then boarded bus 950 towards Woodlands Checkpoint. Pro-tip: Board at Woodlands Bus Interchange; you will definitely not be able to board from subsequent bus stops. There was no jam nor peanut butter, everything was smooth since it was a Monday.
Estimated waiting time: 0.75 hours.

Took a random bus that stopped at KSL, had breakfast at Alishan Coffee House (?) somewhere behind KSL along a long stretch of food. Breakfast was cheap and delicious, "because all Alisons make good breakfast hurhur"


Nice shop auntie suggested 3 pieces of bread instead of 4 in case we couldn't finish
Brunch: RM11.50

Strolled within KSL, nothing fancy caught our eye. She said there was an amazing laksa outlet which was very dirty but oh and behold, it was not there got upgraded into a classy clean shop. Decided on watching a movie. Movie choices were great and since we had no strong WiFi connection nearby (there's KFC free Wifi but I swear someone is just out to troll me and renamed his Wifi name to KFC), we had to wait for the movie trailers to be played on the screens just in front of the ticket counter. UNFORTUNATELY, WHEN WE STARTED WATCHING, IT WAS PLAYING ALL THE MOVIES THAT WE HAD ALREADY WATCHED. Guess who gave up and simply impulsed bought movie tickets to watch Rings.

She chose the movie, I provided the screaming.
I was more afraid watching the movie than her although I stopped getting shocked when I understood the plot. Being the braver one in the relationship, she gleefully suggested I watch the prequels to this movie (my body refuses, my heart screams no, but I mouthed "okay" just for her my body is now giving my mouth detention for being blinded by love)
Screams and increased heart-rate: RM18 (please do yourself a favour and flash your student card, it's cheaper)

We found a shop which listed an interesting game - writing the number 1 to 600 without any mistakes of any sort and redeeming a plush toy. Being the gullible determined guy I was, I embarked on a quest to find my "number 600" and rescue her from the evil clutches of Donkey Kong the shopkeeper. Died symbolically at number 238 (my block number is 239 so I guess you can say I died before reaching home)
The temptation to sin is real
I have sinned
Throwing money away to prove my lack of capability: RM30

With my wallet scolding me for my stupidity and two hungry stomachs, we trudged out of the mall to search for lunch/ high tea (it was around 3pm so I wouldn't know what should I even term the meal as).

Restaurant Name: Sushi Mentai
Le pretty placement and her excellent photo-taking skills part 1
Part 2
Part 3

While we were eating, we took the opportunity to connect to Wifi (sigh, typical humans who can't survive without Internet). Found out that I filled up an application form for a volunteering event wrongly (I entered our NRICs into the "Names" option box).

Error 404: Brain not found
Just when we stood up to leave the restaurant, there was a power failure HAHA THAT WAS CERTAINLY SHOCKING.
 Like every conclusion for an essay/ In conclusion, t'was a great meal well worth every Ringgit.
Good food: RM59

Food coma hit pretty hard following that late meal; we kinda slugged around looking at shops and encountering dilemma on whether to try out this food and risk our stomachs exploding or live to die another day. Got le random matcha tart which was not as good as we expected.
Do not try ever again: RM3

We finally decided KSL was too boring and headed for the other mall nearby. It was equally boring -.- so we just sat down at the Macs using the free Wifi to play games on Facebook messenger (she complained that we are beating high scores on my account instead of hers).
Facepalm moment 1: Deciding to stop outside that random other mall to wait for the bus back to the customs.
Facepalm moment 2: Walking back to KSL and waiting at the wrong bus stop only to be guided by the bus service ticket operator
Operator: "you finding the KFC right? it's behind the mall, not here"
Me: huh expression "we are finding the bus to the customs, where should we wait at?"
Operator: "near the KFC. that is where you board the bus to the customs"
HOW THE HECK CAN SOMEONE INTERPRET WHAT SHE IS IMPLYING BASED ON ONLY THE FIRST SENTENCE??!

Finally got on the bus to the customs and back to Singapore
“夕阳西下,鸟儿我们回家。” (Lin, 2011)
P.S. if you didn't get it, it's the lyrics to 会有那么一天 by 林俊杰 :P
EDIT: wow to her saying the above sentence even before she read my blog post. 😍😍