CONTEST!!! Win a pair of Cartoon Lagoon shoes!!!

A contest from Cartoon Lagoon!!!

This picture of a fruit tree was taken at Seletar Airbase.
Identify the fruit, tell us your favourite Cartoon Lagoon shoe design and one lucky winner walks away with a pair of hand painted Cartoon Lagoon shoes worth S$34!* (*terms and conditions apply)

Contest Terms and Conditions:

1. Contest opens on 23 January 2009 and closes on 9 February 2009 midnight.

2. Results will be published at this blog by 14 February 2009 and the winner will be notified by email.
2. Only email submissions will be accepted.

email to: fiona@cartoonlagoon.com.sg

3. Your submission should include the following:

~ ANSWER: "___________"
~ In less than 30 words, describe your favourite Cartoon Lagoon shoe design and why you like it!
~ Name:
~ I/C No.:
~ Address:
~ Tel. No.:
~ Design you'd like to win (limited to designs available at our website and excluding those no longer in production)
~ Shoe Size (limited to sizes available at our website)

4. We reserve the right to determine the eventual winner and the winning design.

5. The prize includes delivery within Singapore island only.

6. Oh for goodness sake, we could write a whole load more of bull-shit but we hope you won't be so mean as to sue us if things go wrong. This contest is opened in good fun.

GONG XI FA CAI!

My son in St. Gabriel’s Primary School

I recall clearly some incidents from my few years as a Primary School teacher. One of which was a parent breaking down in tears during a Meet-the-Parents session. I was the Form Teacher and English medium teacher for her P5 son. She couldn’t hold back her tears as she spoke of how she had all but given up hope of her 2 sons passing their Chinese. Although both boys excelled in the other subjects, they could not pass their Chinese. She felt it was a great injustice if their Chinese results were to greatly affect the outcome of their PSLE results.

Back then, I could only lend a listening ear. Clearly, I was in no position to give her advice about a subject I myself stunk in. As a child, I had understood little during my Chinese classes. They were boring and made no effort to interest us ‘bananas’. All I recall doing was memorizing stroke after stroke, word after word, phrase after phrase. Yet I managed to pass up to ‘AO’ level (without tuition at that). So could her kids not? Was her plight of any relevance to my own kids? Bah! They were mere toddlers back then. Could I really empathise with her situation? I am ashamed to say this now but the answer is no.

However, now that we’re years down the road, I have come to be in her shoes, understanding her plight so much more now that my son’s taking his PSLE this year. Never a parent to stipulate to my kids that they have to attend a particular brand school or to score a certain target, I’ve never really panicked until now. It has never been easy to be a parent and remain oblivious to other parents’ obvious comparison of grades with our kids. We really hate it when people throw their kids’ results at us in an evidently not so obvious until sooooo obvious way. Is there a point to it? I just don’t get it. Parents crying because their kids can’t get into such and such a school. Huh?

We’ve tried to ignore the comparisons and have always maintained that we need to recognize our kids’ potential individually. We tell this to our kids all the time but we do sometimes tell them they are going to feel horrible themselves if they do not do well. So our plan has always been that THEY themselves should see the light. Self-motivation as opposed to us parents forcing our expectations upon them.

It seems to have worked with my older kid now that she is in secondary school. We see evidence of her setting high goals for herself and we sigh with relief. Our younger kid is just starting to feel panic. Mike and I have patted him on the back and put in some strategies on how he should really speed up on the assimilation process otherwise his MT grade’s gonna badly affect his overall score. Since we can sense him panicking himself, we take it as a good sign.



(Below pic: John and his dad fixing something during a school science fair)

He’s basically a good kid. Fixes things around the house. Very interested in all the science-techy stuff. Very helpful. Not a particularly demanding kid. Hugs us before going to bed every night. Apologises very soon after we get angry with each other. Just not very motivated when it comes to studying the actual text books. He’s very visual. Can watch a science documentary and rattle all facts 10 years on but ask him to learn ‘ting(1) xie(2)’ (Chinese spelling) and it’s all a BIG blur.


Anyway, my son speaks and understand Mandarin as much as I understand Greek. You get the picture?


I sometimes think the inability to assimilate Mandarin is a real learning disability the authorities have yet to realise and admit. The authorities will of course throw figures to back up their theory that majority of the school kids are able to cope, just as they claimed previously that small class sizes didn’t play any significant role in the efficiency of the teacher. Well, they seem to be touting proudly now, their reduced classes. Hmmph. They don’t remember their own words but I will never forget.

Back to my son. The chap’s only panicking and mentally figuring out his own strategies. He’s packed up his laptop (which was flashing the blue screen of death anyway) and told me to not renew his Xbox HALO online game membership. He’s not yet rolled up his sleeves to dig into the process. With less than 8 months counting (or so other parents keep reminding me. OK OK, I get it! I get it!), time is clearly not on our side.
But I have to see my own son’s ability in perspective. For him to panic just a little bit, is a good sign to me.

The main point of my story is on John’s school, St. Gabriel’s Primary School (yes, that was such a long prelude). I myself have taught in several schools and I must say St. Gabriel’s Primary School is a school with a heart. I cannot pinpoint what exactly it is. Perhaps it is the way the Principal, VPs, HODs and teachers carry themselves. They are always around. Always smiling, acknowledging the parents. From what I gather from my kid, they have always been caring and kind. I do not for a second doubt that. Perhaps it is the flexibility the teachers have in dealing with the kids and different situations. I can sense by the actions and reactions of the teachers that they have a say in how things should be run. (That’s because I’ve worked under a ‘tyrant’ Principal before, duh!)

When I registered John there, some people had actually tried to dissuade me from doing so because they felt St. Gabriel’s did not have a good track record. I beg to differ. They have raised boys with a heart and that to me is a job well done.

Last week, the boys attended a ‘super blah blah’ camp conducted by a popular motivational speaker and his team, in school. Parents were invited to the ‘closing’ address. I was grateful the school heavily subsidized the camp fees which majority of the parents would not have been able to afford anyway. But I wasn’t sure I was impressed at all with the trainer shouting or his crass and insulting reference to ‘cleaners’ or ‘rubbish collectors’ and how the boys should not aim to grow up to work in those occupations. I got the drift of his meaning which was that we should aim high. But I felt he could have put it in a better way. Most of the time, I was looking at my watch wondering how long more the shouting match would go on. Anyway, that aside, the last portion of the course was to have the boys volunteer to go up on stage individually to speak with heart and soul to their parents. That was a touching and poignant end to the course. In all, I thought the camp could only do good to the kids.

The night ended on a high note for Mike and myself because a teacher, came to speak to me. She approached us and told us that she needed me to know that John was a wonderful kid! She said she did not directly teach John but she KNEW him for what he was. Mrs. S also patted my arm and said we had brought him up well. We were pleasantly surprised to say the least. She really did make my contacts all blurry and my throat constrict. At that point, my ears stopping ringing (from the trainer’s shouting) and I felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

This week, John, who was a Vice-Head Prefect (oops, John-John corrected me. He said he was 'Asst Vice Head Prefect' last yr but likely Vice Head Prefect this year) last year is running his campaign for Head Prefect Elections. How cool is that for a primary school boy? He even has campaign managers and a whole team ‘promoting’ him. It doesn’t matter if he wins the post or not. We told him to pull no stops and to put in all effort and to enjoy the race for the experience and not for the outcome.


We've also ‘accidentally’ learnt that he is the school Golf Captain and has been for the last two years. Why we had to learn this about our own son from another parent really irks us. But that is my son. When we asked him, he only shrugged and said he didn’t think it was of any importance to tell us. Hmmph! We’ve taught him humility too well.

The point is, I know my son is weak in Chinese and this may mean it will greatly affect his PSLE results at the end of the day. We’ll try our very best to work it out together with him but school results and secondary school postings are only just that. They are not the be all and end all of life. We are thankful that that we have a chance today, to even raise a good boy and that he is so clearly having a time of his life at St. Gabriel’s Primary School. That in itself is one of life’s great rewards.



(Below pic ~ Like Father Like Son.)


(addendum 22 Jan 2009 ~ Results have just been announced and John-John has lost the Head Prefect Elections to another deserving boy. Disappointment was apparent on the day of the results but he cheered up once the teacher in charge told him he had garnered the second highest no. of votes out of 7 nominees. So he will likely be Vice Head Prefect this year. It meant something to Mike and I to learn that the other 6 nominees came from the 'A' class whereas John-John was the one and only 'underdog nominee' who came from an average class. Twas a good race, chum!)

More Pictures of Seletar Airbase (Jan 2009)

Lately, I've been lugging my trusty ol' digital camera around to take pics of what's left of Seletar Airbase. Here are some:

(Below Left) Old lamp post from British days gone by. I drew this in Art class during my days as a trainee teacher and my classmates said I had to be kidding! They said 'Singapore where got this type of lamp post?'. Ha ha. Opens your eyes, man. You are moulding the future!

(Below Right) And......the replacement looks like this. Which do you prefer? Sigh.

(Below) Overgrown grass sits on the Green of what used to be Seletar Base Golf Course. Pretty nice actually to see the grass blowing in the wind.

(Below) Slow but sure destruction of the 9 hole green, hole by hole.

(Below) Remember the Nineteenth Hole pub and restaurant? No more beer in the rattan chairs, buddy. Club house, barricaded, barracuda!

(Below) Hey, at least this road is still around. It is my 'mostest favouritest' road ever. Actually, I love it and I hate it. I love it for all the tall bushes surrounding and I hate it for all the road humps still left behind even after the golf course had been shut down (golfers had to walk across the roads to get from some holes to some holes etc). I have no choice anyway but to drive past this road every week day getting to and from my day job. So I say, love the road, hate the humps. Will ye get rid of 'em already?! My back can't take it anymore!

Coco the Cockerel

(1 Duke Street, Seletar Airbase)

That's Coco, our late Cockerel, heading towards the garden gate to look for his mate across the street.

Goodbye to Seletar Airbase, eh Hello Seletar Aerospace Park???

Scenes of such signs now greet you if you drive around Singapore's Seletar Airbase.


"THIS ROAD WILL BE EXPUNGED ON 1ST JAN 2009"


The first thing my colleagues and I said when we saw the sign was, "What is EXPUNGED?"
Aiyoh, why so cheem one? Does the layman understand what 'expunged' means? The taxi-driver Uncle and lorry-driver Uncle now carry dictionaries with them as they drive issit?

That may not be impossible actually, considering the newspapers reported that a tech savvy taxi-driver had installed a laptop for customers to surf the net and he even added a printer, leh! Anyway, my guess is 'expunged' means a cancellation or wiping out from records of sorts. So that's fewer Monopoly roads left for us. Sigh.


As you would have heard by now, Seletar Airbase is being turned into Seletar Aerospace Park (Hmmphh!!! Doesn't anyone up the heirachy ever listen? Can THEY ever leave anything untouched??? Remaining status quo is not always a bad thing).


In honour of this beautiful Grand Dame called Seletar Airbase, I decided to share with you some pictures as my way of saying Goodbye (sob!):




(above pic ~ 15 Lancaster Gate)



15, Lancaster Gate.
This is where it all started for us ~ our love affair with Seletar Airbase. When Mike was 11, his family moved into this beautiful estate filled with colonial style houses with sprawling gardens. Back then, there were no such thing as fences and everyone's dog, cat or kid could walk in and out of each other's house. No petty squabbles. Plenty of friends. It is where we spent many memorable weekends together and where we threw many 'functions' with dizzying glitter balls hanging from goodness knows where and loud pop music thumping from the systems brought in by our DJ friends. It is where we spent many a night 'slow dancing' to the music from the 80s. It is where friends spent long hours or days on end just lazing around and where church friends dropped by for carolling!
See that sprawling field in front of the house? There used to be no fence and Mike and I had many a candlelight picnic dinner on that grass. There's also a nearby 'longkang' where he, his brother and sister would go to catch fish.


One Christmas (while Mike and I were still dating), my mum got invited over to his place for lunch and the rest is history. We decided to get a place in the same estate.


It turned out to be 11, Regent Street (below pic). This is where my dog, Sheeba got flung into the drain by a hit-and-run RED car. It's where I sobbed my eyes out over her the night before some major exam (she survived, Thank God).

It's also where Mike used to take 3 buses from his Tuas camp to see me for half an hour (and of course to hug me!!!) and then take 3 buses again all the way back to Tuas the same night. It's where moi cried until I threw up when I knew I had to be separated from Mike when he got posted to Brunei! (I know, I know. I'm rolling my eyes now)


(below pic ~ 11 Regent St)





Some years later, my family moved to 27, Regent Street (below pic) because the house had a nicer layout. Gigantic Flame of the Forest trees framed the field behind the house. It is where my multitude of dogs were born and bred. Mike and I stayed on with my family in this house immediately after we were married and refused to move into our own apartment until our daughter was born!


(below pic of 27 Regent St ~ some yrs down the road, people started building fences around their houses)



After a few years living in an apartment, we moved back into Seletar Airbase. This time at
1, Duke Street (below pic).






1, Duke Street!!! It's where both my kids first learnt to cycle two-wheelers, run barefoot through the grass and in the drains during a downpour! It's where we lived with our dogs, ducks, chickens, rabbits, hamsters (had the occasional gigantic tortoise dropping by) and of course the univited snakes. It's where we watched as our cockerel, Coco wooed the female chicken from across the street. I kid you not, they would visit each other every morning. Either she would come over or he would go over! They made me realise how smart chickens can be!


It's where we 'built' our own golf range in the back yard and thankfully, hit balls without hurting anyone! It's where Mike built a treehouse for the kids and let them swing down along a self-made flying fox! Our kids spent hours reading up in that tree. It's where we all enjoyed our kids' childhood best, I believe.

See the tree to the left of the below pic. It was merely a branch when I planted it. Mike too had transplanted the tree you see in the middle of the pic. It's the tree he connected a treehouse to.







In this short blog, words and pictures alone cannot explain to you what we still feel about this place. I have not even begun to describe the community here. There will be no other. I did try to speak out for 'her' but got scoffed at by the people in charge. They promise a beautiful Aerospace park but to me, it will all be FAKE (as usual).


I want to cry when I see the upheaval that is currently taking place in Seletar Airbase but I am a mere citizen. I can only do my part and tell you that it's really difficult to explain how an estate and the ambience can affect one's lives. Well it did to ours and to many others' as well.


Good Bye Seletar Airbase!




(above pic ~ our kids' room)

Our Kids' Art

As I always espouse, kids are so different and as such, no single blanket idealogy should apply to them as a whole.

Our teenage daughter (turning 15 this year) doesn't fancy Art very much. The funny thing is, visualising a picture and drawing has always come easy to her since she was a toddler. She is often targetted in school for projects which require artwork. We often encourage her to pursue her 'talent' in Art although eventually, the path she takes will be her own.

She was on her way to take a bath when she overheard her younger brother discussing with me what to draw (last night) for his art homework. The boy was tearing his hair out.

The girl ignored us, just tore a sheet off the art block and came up with her 30-second drawing of a Zebra's butt:




Pretty good for 30 seconds huh?

She then nonchalantly walked off to the bathroom with her towel in hand. Her brother yelled at her for wasting paper. I thought her Zebra was pretty cheeky so I pinned it on the fridge door.

Now, the boy is a different story (turning 12 this Friday). He's a very 'Science - Techy' type of boy. Art? We hardly ever see him drawing.

He took 3 minutes struggling to explain to me what he had to draw (which was, only a part of an animal), another 3 minutes searching for his paints, another 3 minutes searching for his brushes and palette, before finally settling down to finish his painting in 30 minutes. That is with Mummy sitting beside him explaining to him how to control the water consistency, paint shades and ways to hold his brushes.

If Mummy had not been sitting beside him, he would have taken 30 hours I am sure!

Still, I thought his 30-minute painting turned out pretty neat!

BTW, they are both 'Lefties' ~ no idea where they got that from. Both Mike and I are right-handed.

Oh I see! My Uterus & Ovaries

So! It's the new year and I couldn't have had a better start. Not talking about the makan frenzy with friends' and relatives' (although eating with people is always more fun) but I'm referring to my medical check up. Yah I know..so inauspicious to start the new year with a medical check up. Had no choice. My last appointment was whilst I was still stranded in Bangkok during their airport closure. The next available appointment was a month away.

So what I'm going to write about is a 'womanly' subject which is also relevant to any young girls who might be interested to know.


Here goes..........




Taa Daah! Pictures of my uterus and ovaries!








Not very clear but I sneaked in some shots of these prints before handing them over to the doc.
I do have two kids (the younger of whom is already 12) so do I have a fertility problem? Yes and No. It took us 3 excruciating years to conceive our first child, (a girl) naturally. The second (a boy) happened quite easily as soon as we began to try. Both Mike and I went for tests but there was 'nothing wrong' with either of us.


For as far as I can recall, I've never had a regular menstrual cycle. Prior to my pregnancies, it would arrive every month although I could never predict when. This never bothered me much. You don't miss what you've never had! I also happen to have a retroverted womb (that means it faces the opposite direction of how the majority of women's would face) but was informed that it was nothing unusual. It might have affected conception but it did not mean I was infertile.

Anyway, both kids were delivered via C-Section not because I didn't want natural deliveries but because both babies did not 'engage' (simplistically put, it means head sliding downwards to pelvic area) even in the last days before their due date. I suffered swollen fingers and feet and had slight pregancy induced hypertension and gestational diabetes (which went away after giving birth). Basically, preeclampsia set in.

My gynaecologist told me I had a choice to go through labour and wait till the eventual realisation that I would have to have a C-Section, or just skip the labour and go for the C-Section because he was pretty sure my kids would NOT go through the birth canal. I chose the latter. (Trust me, I still suffer from painfully stretched muscles around the scar area if I make any sudden movements or carry heavy stuff.)
(addendum 8 Jan 2009 ~ the scan technician commented that the width from my vaginal area to the cervix was very narrow and that may have accounted for why I had to have 2 C-sections! She also said I had an oddly positioned path - sort of curvy. I was like, what??? Got like that one, meh???)


With 2 babies conceived naturally, I can hardly call myself infertile. After the second pregnancy, my menstrual period went haywire. I missed it for months but attributed it to breast feeding. For many years after, it would arrrive once every few months. Sometimes, if my womb is in the mood, it'll arrive one month after the other. I've saved alot on sanitary pads of course and it really isn't so bad except when you start feeling really uncomfortable because your womb lining feels thick.


So, in the last few years, I've suddenly gained so much weight (10 kgs) even though I haven't eaten more or changed my diet radically. I have been going for my usual medical tests and my cholestrol and sugar levels are fine. My BMI is now of course questionable.

I sometimes believe that as soon as I know a bad diagnosis, I will lose my zest for life and it will be downhill from there. Thus, I've preferred not to know what the heck was going on in that uterus of mine. But I finally decided that at age 40, it was time to get off my butt and do the right thing.


I went to see a specialist and that's how I ended up with blood tests for my hormone levels, a transabdominal scan and an invasive pelvic scan.

The blood test results and scan reports came back and I have POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME. PCOS for short. A mouthful but basically the doc explained that I have hyperactive and hypersensitive ovaries. She said it was likely genetic (I got it from somewhere up the family line) and it was 'common'. . Don't worry, nothing you can catch.


I researched it abit and I think 5% of the world's female population is definitely not 'common'. I think many more women will never even know that they have it. I did have a clue that I had PCOS way before these battery of tests came about. But hey, I'm no medical expert so it only remained a suspicion because of all my symptoms.



The most important statement the doctor said was,
'and because you have this, it has also caused you to put on weight'.

What???? Say that again, pleeeeezzzz.....that is so music to my ears!
Oh rejoice! I DO have a reason for my weight gain! I say it again, I do have a reason for my weight gain!
I know it was only one of the reasons but I'm the type of person who likes to look for the root cause of things.

I had been really nervous during and after the scans because it took so long and also because the two doctors were hemming and hawing over the monitor (in front of me). They were also throwing around medical terms. I figured if it were just a routine scan and nothing was amiss, they wouldn't have had such a long discussion. I had called Mike and said it didn't sound good. I had to wait 2 hours before I could see the doc with my scan report and blood test results and it was a relief to hear that I had what I had.


'Anyway', the doc continued, 'you already have two kids, right?'. 'I don't think you're still trying for a third?'
So basically, there is something wrong with my ovaries and I'm being given a daily dose of hormone pills for the next 3 months (to see how it goes).


With POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME, you can expect to suffer some or all of the following common symptoms:

- Irregular or absent menstrual periods
- Infertility
- Hair loss
- Hirsutism (increased body hair)
- Acne
- Obesity
- Depression

I do not suffer all the above symptoms but hey, a few are enough.
So, it's a new year and I'm glad I finally know the root cause of my weight gain. The downside is the medication may cause headaches and water retention. Yes, water retention. I know, it's as good as saying I'll be putting on more weight. But at the very least, I'll know why.


Well, Mike and I have started going for our brisk walking a few times already since our last post. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll have the tenacity to carry on.