Banker and Bags

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Dealing with a tween...

Definition of a Tween - A child between 10 n 12 years of age, too old to be a child but too young to be a teenager.

I have one at home and I am beginning to struggle. She is temperamental and moody half of the time. Only channel 8 dramas and Nickalodeon teenage serials seem to cheer her up. I had to remind her papa not to irritate her but tonight I got really irritated!

She has always been an independent student with above average results. Her weakest link is English composition. She does not have the natural flair for writing and she is also not an avid reader. A friend of mine told me about an upcoming 2 day creative writing course by Mindchamps in June. I decided to sign her up as I think it is important to tackle her weakness before the crucial PSLE next year,

She was totally against the idea when I mentioned it. I had to put my foot down and told her she has to go for it until she shows me more effort in improving her writing skills. Her face turned as black as " Bao Qin Tian" and she walked out of my room. Even Jacob noticed something was amiss when he came out from the shower. I had 2 choices - to confront her for her bad attitude or to ignore it until she cools down on her own. I decided on the latter after bouts of deep breathing. I went ahead to revise Chinese with both of them. Despite her cold demeanor, she did as she was told during the revision, but without speaking a word to me!

As expected, the savior to our little cold war was the 9pm channel 8 drama! I had allow her to relax after her revision while I continued with Jacob. When I was done and went to check on her, she happily rattled on about the characters in the new drama and did not seem to remember the earlier angry episode against me. A classic mood swing that is getting more frequent. I acted normally and decided to enjoy her jovial moments while it last. The key thing is - I have achieved my objective to sending her to the course. I cannot imagine what do I have to deal with when she becomes a teenager! I pray for patience and guidance from above and will probably start looking at guidebooks on how to deal with TWEENS!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Start of my 3 mths gardening leave!

I am free!!!

After 6 months of unhappiness at work, God finally answered my prayers and blessed me with a new job offer! I resigned on Wednesday and will enjoy 3 months of gardening leave. I am very excited about the new opportunity and hope I will be able to live up to the expectations of my new bosses! Meanwhile, I have exciting plans lined up for myself...

- Start "play-by-ear" piano class... with the aim to be able to play " A Thousand Years" and " Above All" in 3 month's time!
- Start Zumba classes and lose some weight!
- Maldives trip with family
- Cambodia mission trip with Yiling
- KL trip with family to visit my sis.
- Bangkok shopping trip with Sis-in-law
- Lots of Tai Tai hi tea sessions with galfrds...

I am very very very thankful!!!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Jacob's roller coster ride in 2012 so far....

It's been almost 6 mths since I wrote something here. The year of the rabbit hopped by and now we have entered the year of the water dragon. It has certainly been a roller coster ride for Jacob so far. It started well in the 2nd week of school. I came home to the happy news that he was the only P3 selected to join the ACSP badminton school team. It was an honour for him as the junior team has been Southzone champions for the past 2 years! The following week we also learnt that he has been streamed into the best class in P3. Can't ask for a more perfect start...

Then came the South zone interschool badminton competition. We assumed that all school team players will be playing every match so the whole family took half day to support Jacob on his first match day. To our disappointment, he was not fielded that day as we learnt that only 5 out of 8 players will be fielded at every match. Their first opponent was St Andrews, one of the stronger teams in group A so the coach has to ensure a victory by fielding the experienced P5 players. They won 4-1 that day and Jacob seemed happy to support the team from the sidelines.

Just before match 2, Jacob was told that he will be partnering a P5 for the 2nd Doubles game. I think I was more excited and nervous than him on the day before the match. On match day, his biggest fans papa and gong gong were there before the match started while I rushed down from work at 4pm. On the way there, I learnt that one of his opponent will be Ethan, son of my good friend Christy. I knew chances of winning are low as Ethan and his partner are older and more skillful. I prayed hard that Jacob will try his best and not give up halfway through the match. They lost in the end but they put up a good fight ( 12-21, 21-18 and 18-21). I felt extremely proud of him!

Unfortunately, they got a big scolding from their coach after the match. The coach called them "brainless", "lousy" and threatened to slap them. He also accused Jacob of showing off because of his style of playing. His P5 partner broke down but Jacob managed to hold back his tears. It was tough pretending not to watch when the coach was putting them down!

The next few days, while I struggled with either leaving him alone or complaining to the teacher -in-charge, Jacob seemed to be taking the pressure quite well as he dilligently practised his strokes everyday. Looks like my boy is stronger mentally than I thought. I decided that my hubby and male friends were right and I will let him learn to deal with the " verbal abuse".

The training session today before match 3 went well today. He does not think he will be fielded tomorrow as there are 2 other P5 reserves that has not played in any matches yet. He seems fine with that but I do hope he will be given at least one more chance to play in Match 4 or 5. A win will be a nice morale boost for him, which will help motivate him to excel further in this game!

Meanwhile, I am praying that I will receive my first founder's day invitation.....

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Work

Stressful, hectic, tired. These 3 words summed up the feelings at work in the last 2 weeks, given the volatility in the FX market. The positive side to it is that our revenue run rate is now ahead of budget. I will be a very happy woman at work if not for the recent massive hiring of the bankers from another rival bank. Talks of huge 2 yr guarantees for these guys meant that there will likely be not much left in the bonus pool for us next year. To rub salt into the wound, my role maybe be adjusted, to make way for one of the new hires, who happened to a " friend" that has not contacted me regarding her move to my bank. In the worst case scenario, my job may even be at risk. My hope of securing a new job before their arrival is looking bleak, given the uncertain economic environment, and most banks have froze hiring for the year. I am praying daily for guidance and wisdom. I have been blessed tremendously during my 15 yr banking career and I am sure God will have his plans for me. I need to be patient and faithful and here is one of my favourite verses from Proverbs that reminds me of that.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Tessa is stressed and sad...

Tessa is growing up too fast! Not only physically, but also emotionally...

EXAMS!

She is beginning to feel more self-imposed stress from exams. Last week she looked visibly upset because she thought she did badly for her Maths mock exam. This is quite unusual as she is normally the happy–go-lucky type of girl. Fortunately, she was wrong in her expectations. I could not describe the joy in her voice when she called me in the office the following day to tell me she got band 1 for the paper! It turned out that she got stressed because she got stuck in the first problem sum. That wasted a lot of time and she had no time to check the rest of the paper, hence the conclusion that she would not do well! Her main Maths paper falls on my birthday this year and now she tells me that her present for me will be to do well for the paper!

WEIGHT ISSUES!

She thinks she is fat, and that she does not like her legs. I asked if anyone has teased her about her weight. She said no. My best guess is all her good friends are really skinny ( hmmm sounds like mummy’s case!) and so in relative terms, she is bigger and fatter. She said she is trying to cut down on her food intake since she does not like to do sports. I told her the important thing is to cut down on sweet stuff and junk food. I assured her that she is not fat now but it is unhealthy to put on more weight. She said she feels sad about it, which surprises me as she is normally a very bubbly girl. I read that girls will start becoming more self-conscious when they are about 9-10 so I need to have more heart-to-heart talks with her going forward. My worst fears is to have kids with low self esteem so I better manage her feelings properly now before it gets out of control. And of course, I better join her in her diet plan as well!.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Another chat with Tessa

While I was going through a difficult chinese comprehension passage with Tessa tonight, she suddenly asked me :" Mummy , is there any job that is not stressful?"

Me: " Not really, every job has its own stress."

Tessa: " I want to find a job with no stress!" ( hmm...obviously she inherited my lazy genes)

Me :" Maybe you can be your own boss and sell handbags..."

Tessa :" Then I will have to find people to work for me? That is still stressful!"

Me:" Then maybe you should marry a rich man"

Tessa :" Then I do not have to work?!? YES!"

Me :" But it is better to be a capable woman that earn your own money. What if your rich husband is not nice to you?"

Tessa:" Then we will get a divorce! " ( OMG! I think it is time to ban her from our gossip sessions!!)

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Our wonderful Sydney Trip! 3-11 June 2011

We spent 8 wondeful days in Sydney and I am suffering from serious post holiday blues now!. We had great weather, company and even enjoyed some wonderful Malaysian and Italian Cuisine! Accommodation at the Start City Apartments was fantastic at A$320 per night for 2 families and it was within walking distance to Darling Harbour and even China Town. The kids had great fun at the Taronga Zoo, Wildlife Park and Sydney Aquarium during the day and we had lots of fun playing charade at night, with Uncle Jonas and papa as the best entertainers! It was also good to spend time with grandma, who will next turing 70 next year ( but does not look her age at all!). The only disappointment was the day tour to Port Stephens where we did not have much luck with seeing the dolphins! The adultswere also not too lucky during our "gai gai" sessions at night and we are thankful that the Singapore government imposed the surcharge here for Casinos! Check out some of the highlights of the trip!

This was on day one where we went the the Campsie foodfair and chanced upon a little fun fair at the park where all the rides were free. We waited 20 mins to try this ride but it was worth the wait! This operates like an auto car so we saw a few kids " crashed" into the barriers before us. Jacob and Tessa both did well, controlling the car on their own and we survived without any accidents!