Argentina vs Italy

Yes...it is still today. I wrote three new posts today. So if you had read in chronological order, you would know that I have not done this for a while. I came back to my apartment at 0630hrs this morning. I left work at 2000hrs last night, went for dinner, and settled at a comfortable drinking hole, and had really long and slow drink till 0130hrs. So what happened between 0130 hrs - 0630hrs - I was back at work in office:)

I am absolutely having an eventful day. It's Saturday, and I have done my weekly laudry (including arranging dry cleaners to come pick up my suits), cleaned the whole apartment (yes including the bathroom)....and had a wonderful Japanese lunch. I declare the restaurant as the most economical Jap restaurant in Hong Kong, and I say Singapore TOO! I had a Tempura+grilled beef set meal...plus two servings (each serving up 8 pieces) of sashimi...one's scallops, and the other is fresh yellow tail. FRESH - read they picking up from the tank and prepare in front of you!!! All this for HK$147.

I know I know...you are about to wonder why the title of this post. I am coming to that. Did I mention that the clubhouse where I live serves up free Starbucks on weekends? To top it off, they are now also serving hot buffet dimsum and nooodles/fried rice. Naturally I skip the food...but landed on 4 cuppa (2 banana caramel frappucino + 2 cappucino). Boys, Dad dad is not being greedy here, but I am rereading accounting standards at the clubhouse...and having returned home at 0630hrs, you would pardon me.

Now the creme de la creme of Dad dad adventure. I decided to treat myself after being pretty productive today. So after finish the last pages of IFRS 3 Business Combination, I walked up to the customer service counter to exchange tokens for the arcade game (HK$2 for one game!!! alright, Iggie, Dad dad did not let you play when you were in Grand Promenade)...I settled into the racing car console and blasted off two rounds. Then I switched game, and chose the football of course. Happily seated down, I plunged in one token, and was welcomed by a complicated welcome page. Not at all sure of what to do, I decided not to fiddle too much, and pressed the start button. TATAH...I am Argentina (not bad)...and my opponent is Italy...(pretty well matched). Hang on...my days of computer games tell me that when the arrow on the screen points to a player, you are controlling that player. BUT I see player 1 and player 2. MR 10 year old boy beside me is Italy!!!

Game over - Italy 2 - Argentina 0. The speed at which I see him change his players at half time tells me I am in deep deep trouble. When Italy uses its goalkeeper to ATTACK after half time, I know it is apocalypse now.

Dad dad meekly asked what the 4 buttons represented at the end of the game, and eked out a chance to pass on a casual comment (in halting Cantonese)...this is my first time playing:)

MR Italy said:" DOU KAY LACK AH..."

Moral of the story: Always be gracious, even when you are winning.

(For the record, Buffon (Italy's goalie) did not score in the second half. I sensed there were some divine intervention. And...there shall not be a return (home) leg for Italy vs Argentina...)

wHaT a FoRtNiGhT

Two weeks flew by...or shall I say two sleepless weeks rushed by. Since returning from Singapore, I have been absolutely tormented at work. Work load, difficult consultation issues, frustration, misunderstandings, and ultimately target of wrong reprimand. Sums up the day.

Should I leave this in Iggie/Nick blog?

Well, my intent is to say that I am sorry BOYS.

Dad dad absolutely miss all of you, and wanted so much to be on the phone with you. 12am in the office on the phone with unappreciative colleagues, coupled with a cachophony of renovation one floor above will not be the best setting to call home...and to read you stories.

XOXO (something new Dad dad learnt today. Means hugs and kisses. Hey BOYS, one day you will realise Dad dad was up-to-date and fashionable before alright...)

never the same...

Well well, I finally am reappearing in words. M

My last entry was a photo-slide, which I am very very very happy to watch, whenever I return to this page. Since the party was already much described by my dear wife, I decided to keep it just to the album. Actually, I had BIG plans to pen down all my thoughts (from the planning to the execution of Iggie's birthday party) when I boarded the plane and headed back to Hong Kong. Needless to say, it did not materialise, as I was overcome by too many "BUTS". But I want to gather my thoughts. But I am snowed over by work. But...but...but. Now that I try to recapture my feelings and thoughts...

It is never the same.

That said, I would still pen (just) this down, since this is intended for our sons...to read when they grow up. My dearie wife already gave you an overview of our crazy hours leading to Iggie's birthday. I am just going to add that...leading to Iggie's birthday, I was absolutely stressed with work, plus of course concern for what's going to happen to the birthday party, and the helper issues. And having to travel to-and-fro SG-HK, HK-SG-KL-SG-HK, HK-SG-HK within a short span of three weeks is no fun. 39 hours is the number of hours I spent on the road for the first three weeks of May.

Ideas floated through the many MSN exchange with Sharon, but nothing really concrete emerging. So I was very skeptical if anything will fall in place, and more skeptical if Iggie will enjoy his party (if it did fall in place).

Love and persistence pulled us through I guess.

Two parties within three days...the train cakes, the train props, the many little other things...the sweetness is now firmly captured in memories (and thanks to technology in gigabyts too).

Iggie, this is Dad dad's and Mummy's birthday present to you...for we have been given the most wonderful gift in you.

1 week of fun!!!

alright - so when grandma goes HK for her holidays with all the other grandmas ... what does mummy and sons do? for the 1 week that grandma was out - i took leave and decided to spend time with the two boys ... and for the whole 168 hours we played really hard!!! i had planned on everyday different activities (zoo, science centre, night safari, sentosa ...) but ended up ... we were having all our fun in the sun....

29th May: Iggie's birthday
i asked him where would he like to go and it would just be him and me having the day out ... and SENTOSA came the reply ... so we packed some clothes, sunblock, spades & buckets and drinks and off we went ...

it was a weekday so not too many people were there ... and we stayed on the beach and dug holes and played with waves the whole morning til lunch time... we shared a big bowl of FISH BALLs soup ... and iggie being iggie wanted to "gobble up all the fish balls" ...

after lunch we played at the water feature that was just outside the foodcourt and he invented his own game ... he had an airplane plastic mold which is used for playing with sand ... and he used that to cover the water spouts and stood back to watch the water jets flip and toss the airplane up into the air before it landed back down again and he laughed out loud each time the airplane got flipped and tossed up high! and he did that continuously with different water spouts (varying water intensity) for 30mins!! it was great just watching him do that - having so much fun with so little!

about 3pm i decided we should get dry and do the next "fun" thing - go sit on the monorail or Sentosa Express.... and yes! that was for another 1.5 hours of up and down the tracks and changing different coloured Sentosa Express! ha!

guess what is the next "fun" thing iggie wanted to do? ....... ride on the Sentosa Tram!! hahhahahahahah .... yes so off we went on the green tram and by this time he was too tired to open his eyes and with the warm afternoon breeze blowing on the really REALLY slow tram ... both of us were almost falling asleep on the tram!

ended the day with him flat out in the car seat while i had to peel open my eyes to drive us home ....

30th May: Iggie's special day
so again i asked and this time - we went to Wild Wild Wet!!!

for the whole day we were going up all the slides at the kids area - PINK slide, BLUE slide, RED slide, ORANGE slide, GREEN slide and PURPLE slide!!!

i even brought him up to Ou Larla - the highest slide where 6 pax sit in the big raft and slide all the way down - i screamed first (obviously!!!) and the first 10 seconds he didnt know what to do and til he saw me - he started screaming too - so whole way down we both screamed "AAAHHHHHHhhhhh...." and he had a great time!!

i was totally burnt by the end of the day - and sore too ...

31st May: Nick's Special Day
Given that i had 2 fun days with iggie ... decided this would be nick nick's day

but wat can you do and where to go with a 6 month old??? .....

well - we went to run errands! ha ha ha! yes we both went vivio city and ran errands like change starhub cable box .... change shoes for iggie (bought wrong size) ... pay bills.... bought some groceries ....

all this time nick was hanging with the babybjorn and having a real good time with all the sights and sounds of the world outside!

evening i took iggie for a nice walk .... just two of us ... strolling and chatting about the past 2 days and the next 2 weeks of things he wanted to do ....

night was then horror for me ... too much excitement for nick - he had nightmares the whole night!!! cried and screamed every other hour .... sigh .. so much for nick's special day!

1st June: Vaccination Day & Rest Day
yes yes - you read it right ... both boys had their vaccinations and i think it was too much for all of us (over the past 3 days) ... and we spent the whole afternoon napping and resting ....

2nd June: Trains Day
alright - we didnt take trains the whole day - dun worry .... we played trains the whole day and in the afternoon - i brought iggie to HMV to look for Train Documentary ... i tried all other places including Borders ... but no one sells documentaries nowadays ... luckily for us HMV was the last stop and managed to find about 5 DVDs on trains ... i bought only 1 of course .... but agreed with iggie (after much crying and whining) to let him watch it only on sunday....

but i think its from all that crying (for almost an hour!) ... that night iggie puked out all his dinner and milk onto the bed .. and at 11plus at night we were busy cleaning him and changing bedsheets and taking all the pillows and bolsters ..... it was a L-O-N-G night ....

3rd June: Burnt Mummy day
so ... from the first 2 days of sun - i was totally burnt and by sunday i was peeling everywhere .... face, back, arms ... sigh ....

but guess where did iggie want to go???? .... Wild Wild Wet!!!! so off we went again and yes ... back to all the slides up and down ... but this time round - he didnt pass the height test for Ou Larla ... funnie huh... and when he tried to tell daddy on the phone, this was what he said "some days iggie can take the slide, some days iggie cannot"

4th June: Final Last Fun Day
last day before i return back to work .... i asked iggie again .... and again he said "Wild Wild Wet" ....

yes ... for this one week we went there 3 times!!! and this poor mummy is totally burnt and having sore back and bums .....

but for iggie - this was one great week of fun in the sun!!!!