Under the weather

Hou Yeet ah! Hou Kan Yu Yeet ah!!
So blardy hot today!!

It was raining cats and dogs just few days ago, which flooded Shah Alam and some other areas, and now it's so freaking hot!

And Yiyi fell sick again. It must be the fourth time this year. Ever since she started pre-school, she got sick quite often. Probably lots of germs in her kindy. Her classmates are the same as well. Every week, she'll come back and tell us that her friends got sick and didn't come to school.

Everytime she got fever, we got extra worried. I have a history of very high-fever. So we are worried she inherited that from me. The highest for her was 42 deg C. In the middle of the night.

But she got better this morning, and she's eager to get to school. She even went to school when she got the fever last week. Despite us telling her not to go, she 'insisted' she wanted to go. Luckily, the teacher told her she couldn't come even if it's just a lil' bit feverish.

So now she listen to everything the teacher says.

No more bats

Yay!! Our house is now free of bats!!

There was a colony up there on the ceiling. The scratching, screeching and not to mention the smell and the droppings. Ewww... So, my dad and I went up there again. This time we were prepared. Armed with a long tongs/whadaya-call-that-long-forcep-to-pick-up-charcoal-for-bbq and a pail, we went up the hot and stuffy ceiling. While up there, I worked on some cabling for my Streamyx and my dad was responsible in catching those critters.

Using the long forcep, he picked the bats, one-by-one into the pail. But two escaped into the cracks of the roof tiles. FYI, bats can't fly off the ground, like birds. They have to fly by dropping off an edge. Who says you don't learn anything from Astro.


Bats for Pets , anyone?

He then put up some nets around the perimeter to prevent them from coming back. And he nearly fell through the ceiling because he lost his balance and his footing. I must say that my dad, although at 60, is a pretty agile guy. He's ok, but I ended up with a hole on my ceiling.

We released the bats in a field far away from our house, worried that they'll find their way back. But that night, the two bats that got away came back. And they were really pissed off!! It was so noisy that we couldn't sleep a wink!

Anyway, my dad came back the next day to check, and true enough, those two buggers were still there. I think they found another way in. And yes, this time, they still managed to get away. And yes, for the second time, my dad broke my ceiling again. So I ended up with two holes on my ceiling.

So, yesterday, we spent the whole day fixing the ceiling and cleaning up the bats dropping. Really tiring work. So now, we could sleep peacefully again. :)

Peter and Jane

Your kids either like them or hate them.

But Yiyi loves them. Every morning, the moment she wakes up, she'll talk to them. Every night, before going to sleep, she'll chat with them again.

Peter and Jane are actually the main characters in the series of books known as Ladybird's Key Words Reading Scheme.


(Photo from here)

The first book was published in 1964 and was designed to teach small kids to read and write. The system was devised by teacher William Murray, which uses a system of key phrases and words. From his research (together with Prof. Joe McNally), Murray realised that only 12 words account for a quarter (1/4), 100 words account for a half (1/2) and 300 words account for three quarter (3/4) of the words we normally used in our conversation, reading and writing of the English language.


(Photo from here)

There 12 sets in the series. Each set consists of 3 books/grades: a, b and c (i.e. 1a, 1b, 1c.....2a, 2b, 2c.....). As you moved from one series to another, more words are introduced to the reader. The fonts will gradually become smaller and smaller, and the sentence structure becomes more complex. The text is usually on the left, while the illustration is on the facing right page.

Yiyi and "Peter and Jane" (as it is popularly known) are inseparable. Whenever she goes, she will bring them along. To grandpa's house, to my in-laws, even when we went for a holiday, she'll bring it along. She's now reading 3a and 3b at (pre) school but she's also reading 4a at home. She has been doing quite well, and according to her teacher, she's progressing very very fast.

She's also learning how to write on her own! She would ask Mami how to spell certain words and by checking on her ABC book, she would try to write it out. The first word she wrote on her own is Mami's name.

Now, let me get her to write my name pulak.

Strawberry

Last night....in the toilet....

Yiyi : mmmmm......mmmmm......

Papi : Are you OK, Yiyi? Got 'ta pian' or not?

Yiyi : Yes, Papi. Like strawberry..

Papi : Huh? Like strawberry?? Let me see..

Yiyi : Yeah, smell like strawberry lar.

Papi : sniff...sniff...hmmm...yeah Mami, smell like strawberry. Come and smell it.

Mami : I don't want...uwekk!!

Papi : Come lar, like strawberry wan, come lar...

Mami : UWEK!!

Actually it didn't smell like strawberry, it smelt like sh*t.

ta pian : Mandarin for faeces or passing motion.

A small step..

Last week was a major crosspoint for me. I tendered my resignation to my company.

My manager was shocked but not really surprised. We had a chat, a good chat, which further emphasized my decision. They are losing focus and they are trying to steer away from our core business. But the problem is they don't have a goal or plan on what to do next.

Better 'cabut' early.

So, I have a job offer already in the bag. And I am still talking to another company, which I think will be able to provide me with a better offer. There are also some other people who got to know of my resignation and started to approach me on some partnerships. So I am keeping my options open, for the time being.

Special thanks to MamaBok for providing me with some info on tax in Canada. Really appreciate it.

cabut : malay for run away

Explosion in Shah Alam

I came to work this morning and was alerted by the news of BIG explosion in Shah Alam (or Batu Tiga) area around 5am. It was felt all the way in USJ and PutraHeights as reported by forumers in usj.com.my and lowyat.net. How come I didn't feel a thing??

A dude managed to capture videos from his house and posted online. Talk about how fast information travels. And our news media has yet to break any news. From the video, it looked quite serious.

Check out the video here. Submitted by jackyflc of LYN. Great job, dude!

Read about it here and here.

There are lots of factory there near the USJ/Shah Alam border, being an industry area.

Updated:

It's on YouTube!



There's still nothing on The Star online and NST. But I think it's already on TV3 and RTM news.

Looks like a factory caught fire in Section 26, Shah Alam, near the Proton factory. And the fire spread to two nearby factories! But the great news is there is no fatality.

UPDATE 2!!

A new video on YouTube.



I was sitting in front of the TV to catch the 8pm news but strangely, none of the TV stations mentioned this on prime time news. Our online media also nothing wor. Why ah??