Nigel Ng

Daddy and Mummy met Teacher Cherie and Mien Ling 老师 in school for the twice a year Parents Teachers Conference (PTC) at 8:00am. I was still fast asleep so I did not hear their conversations. Anyway, I am not supposed to!

I woke up the minute when we left school and we had a hearty breakfast at McDonald’s before we were off to meet Ah Yi and Yi Zhang at Fort Canning Park for Ah Yi’s company family day.

We parked our car in Carpark C and walked up a flight of stairs to The Fort Gate where the event is held. Along the way, we passed by The Battle Box. Just as we were walking up the stairs to The Fort Gate, we heard a birthday sung in celebration of IDS 10th birthday.

The weather is really humid. I was in for an ice-cream treat. Take a good look at me! What a stylo-milo hair style I got here. All thanks to my SWEAT… natural hair gel. Muhahahaha…

At 10:45am, the games stalls are officially opened. And here I am trying to hit the basket and guess what… I scored!

I had no luck at the fishing game. It is really difficult to control the fishing rod to hook up the magnetic fishes. Nor do I had any chance in hanging the monkeys to the “fence”. Anyway or anyhow, be it a win-win, win-lose or lose-lose situations, I still get a prize!

And my favourite has got to be the Wii booths. I love driving the Mario Kart on the Wii Wheel. It is quite difficult to control the wheels but nonetheless, I had fun. The other booth is the Wii Bowling and Wii Tennis which I had difficulty in managing the remote. I am back to driving the Mario Kart while Mummy check out Ah Yi at “work”.

Check out Ah Yi and the rest of her colleagues in the Team Challenge. They were divided into four groups and each group got to dressed up their mascots and decorate a flag with the scrap papers that were given to them. And here is Ah Yi and her group at work - creating their very own flag.

And here are the mascots of the four teams namely (from left to right) Devils United, Tele-Tummy, Gaia and SOM IT Log. Gaia won the Best Dressed Mascot while Ah Yi’s team - SOM IT Log won the Best Decorated Flag.

And the winning smiles when the result is announced. While Ah Yi and the rest of her gang prepared for the next Team Challenge, Mummy came back to hunt for me.

I am still playing the Mario Kart while Yi Zhang is queuing for the balloon sculpture. Mummy brought me over and I asked for a red gun. Why red because red is my favourite colour now. Not yellow anymore. And anyone care to guess why I like the colour red? And the answer is as simple as red is the colour of the armour won by the “LEADER” of the Power Rangers Mystic Force and Power Rangers Operation Overdrive.

Mummy is as busy as a bee… running here and there busy snapping away. She is back to taking shots of the Team Challenge game once again. And here is Ah Yi and her team members trying to balance a plate of water by holding to the end of the rope. Not an easy task… this calls for team coordination.

And the centre of attraction is back to me while I checked out the rest of the activities. Here I am in the stomach of a bouncing tiger. I did not enjoy this bouncing tiger as much as I had at Mummy’s company family day two weeks ago. And I guess the reason is because it is enclosed and there is no slide attached to it.

I am on to the Workshop stations. The first being the sand art stations where I poured different coloured sands into the bottle. I enjoy doing it and I filled a total of three bottles. We adjourned for lunch before I carried on the activities at the other workshop stations.

Mummy asked for a pebble at the Pebble Paperweight workshop. I chose the materials strawberry to decorate the paperweight. Then I ran away. I am not the least interested. Mummy chose the rest of the materials and finished the job by herself. And this is the pebble paperweight that Mummy created. NICE!

I spotted water-colour palettes on the other tables and told Ah Yi I wanted to paint. And this station is the kite-painting station. Ah Yi managed to find for me a kite with a whale on it. I painted the whale with layers and layers of colours until I could no longer recognise what picture was that! I asked for another one. Ah Yi got me a goldfish motif imprinted on the kite. And here I am again, doodling away.

While I as happily doodling away, other programmes like the magic show and manhunt competition are still going on the background. And today’s programme ended with a lucky draw. Ah Yi did not win though.

It is all thanks to Ah Yi that I thoroughly enjoyed myself today. Time checked 2:15pm and my day did not just stopped here. Do come back and check this space out.

Daddy promised Nigel an ice-cream treat earlier this morning. So the minute we set feet in town, Nigel asked for his ice-cream. I remembered Ah Yi gave me a free complimentary double scoop ice-cream voucher with purchase of another double scoop ice-cream. So here we are at Häagen-Dazs Wisma Atria for our ice-cream treat.

I had a scoop of Strawberry Cheesecake and a scoop of Cappuccino Truffle while Nigel had two scoops of his all-time favourite Strawberry ice-cream. Daddy had a waffle which comes with a scope of summer berries ice-cream and a scoop of passionfruit ice-cream.

What a COOLZ way to spend Father’s Day on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon. To all the Daddies out there, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY… you are not forgotten. You will always be in our hearts!

Mummy… What do you do at work?
How does your office look like, Papa?
Ah Gong, where is your office?

KIDS, with their inquisitive minds, often wondered where their parents/grandparents go and do at work. On 15 June 2009, staff can bring their kids/grandkids to the Club and the kids will be able to check out what their parent(s)/grandparent(s) does at work. This is a full-day programme and is open to kids between 4 to 12 years old (and are toilet-trained!!!).

THE PROGRAMME DETAIL IS AS FOLLOWS:-
0900 - 0930 Arrival/Registration
0930 - 1015 Breakfast with Parent
1015 - 1045 Welcome & Getting To Know You
1045 - 1200 OCC Tour
1200 - 1330 Lunch with Parent
1330 - 1430 Golfing Experience for kids
1430 - 1500 Break
1500 - 1600 Bake a Cookie
1600 - 1700 What does my Mom/Dad do at work
1700 - 1730 Finale & Home Sweet Home

Rise and shine at 8:00am. After getting ready, Ah Ma and I are off to Ah Ma’s work place in Orchid Country Club (OCC). We arrived a couple of minutes before 9:30am. Most of the kids were done with their registration and were busy writing their names on the name tags. I quickly followed suit.

We proceeded to a buffet breakfast at Vanda Terrace. What a sumptuous spread… french toast, hash brown, muffins, scrambled eggs, baked beans, etc. YUMMYLICIOUS!

After breakfast, it is time to “break the ice.” We had a series of ice-breaker games and Aunty went around and asked us to introduce ourselves. Tell everyone “What’s your name?” and “How old are you?”

After getting to know one another, we went on an OCC Tour. We were brought to the Social Clubhouse where it houses facilities like a childcare centre and an outdoor playground, a lounge with karaoke rooms and a dance floor, jackpot/cards room, restaurants and a horseshoe pitching court. Over at the Recreation Clubhouse, we saw an Olympic-sized swimming pool and landscaped fun pool, sauna rooms, tennis and squash courts, a 36-lane bowling alley, a snooker centre, an indoor air-conditioned 2-storey children play system and a 5,000 square feet gym.

After “wheezing” through the facilities at OCC, we were back at Vanda Terrace for lunch the buffet style. The spread includes fried rice, spaghetti, finger food like nuggets and french fries, etc.

The next programme awaits us is golfing experience. Firstly, we were “chauffeured” around one of the most breathtaking courses in the buggies. We saw a truly picturesque view of the Sungei Seletar Reservoir. OCC has three 9-hole courses all named after orchids - the Aranda, the Vanda and the Dendro courses feature acres of immaculately manicured fairways and greens.

Secondly, we were taught how to putt a golf ball into a hole. Last but not the least, “hands-on experience”. I simply love this once in a lifetime experience unless Mummy sign me up for classes at KinderGolf. Who knows if she does, I might be the next Tiger Woods in the making. Kekekeke..

We took a 30-minute break and continued with our second last activity for the day - Bake a Cookie. How to bake without gearing up? So before we even had our hands on the flour, we were all dressed up with an apron and a chef’s hat. How do I look? A cheeky baker.

What shape cookie are we making today? I will keep all in suspense. Read on and the answer will be revealed! The ingredients… butter, flour and horlicks. We mixed the ingredients together and kneaded them into a dough. We then knead the dough into smaller balls and then flattened them a little. Then, we decorated the cookie - coco crunch for the ears, chocolate rice for the eye and chocolate chips and raisins for the noses.

While waiting for the cookie to be baked, we dispersed to the areas where our grandparents/ parents work and my Ah Ma works in the Linen Department. She has been with OCC for 14 years. She work her way as a Linen Attendant to a Linen Supervisor. She never fails to put a smile on her face and will always go the extra mile to help her colleagues from other departments.

I took a bath before going back to collect our cookies. We put our cookies into the ziploc bags and decorated the bags with stickers. All participants for this event is each given a bag, a tee and a cap. What a better way to end this programme with is none other than a group photo! SAY CHEESE, everyone!

It has been a couple of years since we last had our family day. This year family day is held at Stamford Foyer (Raffles City Convention Centre). We were there really early at 10:30am although the event only starts at 12:00pm. And this is so because we want to beat the traffic jam and human crowd as our family day coincides with the PC show at Suntec City.

At 12:00pm we registered and collected our door gift - shoe bag for staff and a Golden Village Movie Money each for all the adults. Then we proceeded to a buffet lunch at the Stamford Ballroom.

The programme is definitely tailored made for the kids. The fun began at 12:30pm where the kids jumped and bounced in the Seaside Castle brought to us by Bounty-Castles. Nigel loves this bouncy castle. He is always going back for more hip hop dance in the castle. Kekeke…

We proceeded to the Glitter Tattoo booth proudly brought to us by our own Rec Club colleagues. Nigel chose a batman motif to be placed on his arm.

Next in line - Creative Sand Art brought to us by Star Dazzle Concepts. Nigel chose his favourite Ultraman. He did 30% of it and the rest was completed by Ah Yi and myself. He is like a master of commander always running here and there. One minute, he is off to the Video Games room and the next minute you can catch him at the bouncing castle. Occasionally, he will come back to us and asked “All done?” *faint*

At 1:30pm, we were back at the Stamford Ballroom for the movie screening of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Barely ten minutes into the movie, we decided to make a move since none of us are interested in watching.

We left for Suntec City. Yi Zhang and Daddy proceeded to the PC Show while Ah Yi, Ah Ma, Gong Gong and I brought Nigel to Toys R US. I bought Nigel a Power Rangers Operation Overdrive Dual Drive Megazord to be combined with his Power Rangers Operation Overdrive Deluxe DriveMax Megazord to create the Drivemax Ultrazord.

Nigel saw the Mini Rider 2 at Happy Kidz and insisted on riding in it. As he is too young, an adult needs to accompany him. NOT ME FOR SURE! I told him “You go and ask Ah Yi to ride with you.” Ah Yi too hesitated but decided to go with him. Three cheers for the gung-ho Ah Yi! Don’t worry Ah Yi, there is an emergency button to press should you wish to terminate the ride half way. According to Ah Yi, there are four different simulator rides in this 2-seater capsule for you to experience. They are a roller coaster ride, a space journey through the cosmos, a ride through icy glaciers and a ride through an underground mine shaft. Nigel chose the icy glaciers ride which is really very bumpy. Anyway, both Ah Yi and Nigel survived the 5-minute ride although Ah Yi feel like puking thereafter.

At Happy Kidz, two facilitators from Growing Up Gifted performed and interacted with the kids with songs and dances. I was astonished that Nigel is 100% participative. Whenever and whatever the kids were asked to do, he follows without fail. The guy facilitator even asked Nigel to come to the front. They sang to Old MacDonald, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Five Green Apples. After the Five Green Apples song, the facilitators threw the “apples” (actually they are balloons) for the kids to catch. Nigel failed to catch any. The lady facilitator is so nice. She came up to Nigel and said “Darling, here’s one for you.” She passed Nigel the one and only red “apple”. They ended the show with a “I Love You” song or better known as Skidamarink. And this song is one of Nigel’s favourite since he is a toddler. We used to play the “Travelling Tunes” CD we were in the car.

Daddy called five minutes later and said they are done with their shopping at the PC show. We met Daddy and Yi Zhang for a drink at Gloria Jean’s Coffees. We bought Gong Gong a Dunhill LL5020A Sentryman - 7-hook keycase as a Father’s Day gift and dinner is served at Sushi Tei, Raffles City Shopping Centre. An hour after dinner, Ah Ma cleaned Nigel up in the Nursery Room. We headed back to the car where Nigel drank his milk and off to slumberland he goes at 8:00pm.

It is Ah Ma’s off day tomorrow so Nigel stayed over at her place for the night. Tomorrow will yet be another fun-filled day for Nigel and Ah Ma at Orchid Country Club. Sounds interesting? Watcha this space!

This is the Star Wars Clone Wars Shadow ARC-170 Fighter Vehicle that we managed to exchange for a new one at Metro Compass Point last week.

One of the catchment to attach the wings is missing. We got no choice but to make our way to Metro at Compass Point because that is the one and only piece left at that time. This fighter plane presumably is Daddy’s toy. Nigel did not ask for it but somehow or other Daddy fell in love with it the minute he saw it. So it is all thanks to Daddy that Nigel got a new toy to play with.

Along with the aircraft, Daddy bought the Star Wars The Legacy Collection Evolutions – Imperial Pilot Legacy (Episode II Clone Pilot, Episode III Clone Pilot, Biggs Darkligh) as well.

After the movie, we brought Nigel to Metro Compass Point to exchange a “faulty” toy we bought last night at Metro Paragon. We had dinner at Yoshinoya and when we are leaving for the carpark, we saw a crowd at one of the booths. As curious as we are, we decided to check it out.

It is a retail counter where wax hand are produced and sold to the customers right on site - also known as Wax Hand Union. It is interesting watching the steps involved in making a wax hand. After watching, we decided to make a move but Nigel was reluctant to leave. We knew he wanted a shot in making his very own wax hand.

Daddy gave his two thumbs up and Nigel joined in the queue. His turn came and he was told to make a hand-sign. And apparently, all boys love the Spiderman hand-sign. Nigel is not the exception. After he got his hand-sign ready, he dipped his hand into a container filled with ice-water, then to a container of warm liquid wax and back to the ice-water again. The lady adjusted Nigel’s wax hand before dipping it into the warm liquid wax again. The last step… to solidify the wax hand, again Nigel dipped his hand into the ice-water. THADA…. all done just under two minutes!

The wax hand was left to further solidify for five minutes. Thereafter, it was dipped into containers filled with coloured water - pink, yellow and blue. I chose the colours for the wax hand and Nigel chose three Spiderman ornaments for his star-shaped wax hand base. Fun and COOLZ…

We brought Nigel on his second movie theater experience. The movie we caught is none other than Monsters vs Aliens.

The story line is not that fantastic but I give two-thumbs up for the animation in this movie. There is also plenty of action and the epic battle over the Gold Gate bridge is as exciting as any top live-action movie. This bright and lively computer-animated 3D comedy-adventure is definitely worth your money.

PLOT
When California girl Susan Murphy is unwittingly hit by a meteor on the day of her wedding to weatherman Derek Dietl, absorbing a substance called quantonium, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches tall.

The military jumps into action and Susan is captured and taken away to a covert government compound. There, she is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of Monsters: the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho amphibious fish-ape hybrid The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot colossal grub called Insectosaurus. The monsters are forbidden to have any contact with the outside world; while the other monsters have been living contentedly with this lifestyle for the past 50 years, Susan feels incredibly isolated and wishes to return to her old life.

An alien named Gallaxhar detects the quantonium radiation emanating from Earth and deploys a gigantic robotic probe to find it and extract it from its source, Susan. After a botched attempt by the President of the United States to make first contact with the robot, it begins destroying everything in sight, resisting all conventional military force used against it. General Monger convinces the President to enlist the motley crew of Monsters to combat the Alien Robot and save the world from imminent destruction.

DID YOU KNOW?
- B.O.B. has 12,000 bubbles inside him.
- Dr. Cockroach holds a Ph.D in Dance.
- The crew used four different types of 3D glasses throughout the production.
- It took a total of 500 artists to create Monsters vs Aliens (the total crew number minus production staff and voice talent).
- Monsters vs Aliens was in production for approximately 4.3 years (from January 2005 to Spring 2009).

The Great Singapore Sale is here. Great bargains from 29 May 2009 to 26 July 2009. It is the time of the year where shopaholics and even non-shopaholics could resist.

Bought Nigel two fitted sheet sets at Aussino at 50% off for the first and 60% for the second. They are so irresistably nice in a boy’s room.

47 Year old Susan Boyle wows the judges with her performance in the auditions for Britain’s Got Talent, singing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. She is really AWESOME. When she mentioned that she hopes to be like Elaine Paige, the audiences laugh and some even expressed skepticism. When she starts to sing, everyone jaw-dropped and she gets a standing ovation!

Even though she came in second place, everyone must be really proud of her. She dare to live her dream. Everyone has a dream. Live your dream and strive for it. Who knows, one day you might be like Susan Boyle who fulfilled her dreams.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high,
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
When dreams were made and used,
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung,
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame.

And still I dream he’ll come to me
And we will live our lives together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather…

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

Daddy has been searching high and low for a watch. Nothing he fancies so far. We were out shopping at Takashimaya. I saw a series of watches in the glass cabinet at Tommy Hilfiger which I brought Daddy’s attention to.

Daddy saw one which he really like and since Father’s Day is in three weeks’ time, I decided to buy it for him. It is a Tommy Hilfiger Getty Sports 1790669 . Elegant yet sporty. NICE!