Yummy Spaghetti

I started having an interest in cooking. My Ah Mah likes to watch Korean Cooking Shows in Channel 601 HyppTV. I would always join her because I enjoy watching that particular channel too. I personally like to eat spaghetti. I attempted to cook spaghetti one evening, and it turned out well.

National Short Course Competition

I was happy that our Swimming Club had sent a few of us to participate in the National Short Course Competition organised by ASUM in conjunction to the National Sports Day.

It was a great exposure for me. I was very pleased with my swimming results, as I manage to significantly break my own personal timing.

It was also a stressful time for me. I really wanted to swim well for the competition and to add on to my stress, my school final exam was just round the corner. I thank God that He preserved me and gave me strength to do well in my swim competition and in my final exams.

Our team from STW, with our Senior Coach

My classmate in school,
from a different swimming club (IBSC).

Friends from STW and IBSC

Putrajaya Aquathlon 2105w

Last month, I participated in the Putrajaya Aquathlon 2015. I was under the category of 10-12 years old boys event. I was required to swim 200m and run 2km. It was a great experience, an experience I would cherish.

Swimming 200m was not difficult for me. As an advance swimmer, I am used to swimming 200m. However, running 2km was not easy. I did not have much stamina to race after swimming 200m. It was easy to complete the race, but difficult to complete with a top 10 position. 

Through this event, I also learnt that most of us who are first timers took a long time to transition from swimming to running. As soon as we completed our swimming, we were expected to run to a transition point to change. Before the event, we had already placed our belongings in a basket assigned to us individually. I had to remove my googles and cap. I had to then wipe myself dry to wear my t-shirt and wear my shoes. To save time, I wore my shoes without socks. I took awhile to wear my shoes as my feet were still a little wet. Once I was ready, I had to set off to run 2km.

I enjoyed myself and was glad to have been able to participate in this event. I hope there would be such an event next year. I hope to do better next year.

Getting ready to swim. No proper lanes for us to swim

After my swim, running to my transition point

Just finished changing at the transition point.
Running out to start my 2km run

My 2km run

Finished the race with my pool friends.
All with a participation medal.

English Presentation in School

Recently I had to do a final English presentation for the year. Every month, we would have our listening and speaking assessment in school. Most of the time, we are asked to do an individual, or a group presentation for our English assessment. All my presentations have been good. My previous presentation was probably the best. I partnered with a friend and we did a promotional presentation on a swimwear called Funky Trunks. I sang a promotional song during the presentation too.

The swimwear we were wearing was called
Funky Trunks.

This is my classmate. We are swim buddies
although we train in different swimming
clubs.

For the final English presentation, I announced to the class that my final presentation would be of a more serious topic. I narrated the Story of God's Creation. I wanted to thank and honour God for the fruitful year in school. God has blessed me tremendously. So, I wanted my presentation to be biblical.

It was a little harder to prepare for the presentation. I needed visual aids. Fortunately Mami helped me with some ideas. I had Shaun Shaun TiTi to help me in making the visual aids. He is certainly more artistic than I am.

These were all the visual aids we prepared.

We used cardboard the most in our visual aids. We prepared:
1. The black round earth which represents darkness, and orange sun behind which represents light.
2. Clouds and waters, and separating them...made the sky.
3. Sun, moon and stars.
4. Living creatures
5. A man - Adam

When I remove the waters, it becomes dry ground. This particular
visual aid was made by Shaun Shaun TiTi.

Praise God my presentation went well. My teacher and friends gave good comments and my teacher's final words were "Keep it up!"

Morning Music

I love to sing at home. I may not sing a song but may hum to a certain tune. Otherwise, I would just make noises which sounds like music.

This is my trademark at home. Despite Mami calling me noisy, my noise and music still fills the house with joyful laughter.

Music is very much part of my life. What would I do without music.

No More ....

Last month was my last lessons for my Basic Swim group class at Bandar Tun Razak swimming pool. I am in a way happy and sad. Happy because I can now concentrate on my advance classes in the UCSI pool which I go about 4 times a week. Sad because I really like Coach Zoey. She is good and nice. I enjoyed her swim lessons and my cousin Ashley Cheh Cheh is in the same class. Unfortunately Coach Zoey no longer wants to teach the basic group class.

Life goes on. I want to still pursue swimming and I am hoping to be good in it.

Making Music Wherever I Am

I love music. I love singing. I may not be extremely good in singing but I can still sing in perfect pitch. I can harmonise a song well. My vocal range may not be very wide though.

I sing at home very often. I sing in the shower. I sing when I am in a good mood. I sometimes sing while doing homework. I love to take a common tune and add my own lyrics. I can be quite creative with words.

Recently a classmate and I had to do a promotional presentation for English Listening and Speaking assessment. As we were both swimmers, we decided to promote a swimwear called Funky Trunks. We prepared attractive visual art materials for the presentation. For the closing of the presentation, I presented a song entitled "Do you want a Funky Trunk?" The song was catchy and everyone loved the song. They enjoyed our presentation too.

Singing brings lots of joy and laughter to our family at home. Our whole family can sing. Shaun TiTi can sing very well too. Noone is tone deaf in the family... eer.. except for my Ah Mah.

Church Family Day 2015

Our church had a Family Day a few months back. It was organised jointly by Young People and Children Ministry. As Mami is a Children Ministry teacher, she was automatically in the committee who had to organise the event. It was held in our school hall.

I was very happy as I was part of the organising committee for the event. I helped in giving ideas on the games prepared. I helped with the preparations for the hall decoration. Finally, I was proud to be in co-MC for the event with my Kai Yeh.

Family Day turned out good, and we enjoyed ourselves very much.

The Organising Committee

As Busy As A Bee

I have been busy busy busy since last month. I don't know what I have been busy with, but I know I have been busy because this blog was not updated more than a month.

Last month was the month of May. Looking back, I can't recall why I was busy. All I remember was that there was much to do in school. Teachers were rushing to complete some lessons and there were lots of assessments held. One thing I remember very clearly was the projects that I was busy with. I had individual and group projects for English, Science, History, Mandarin, practically most of my subjects. I was glad that Mami helped me alot in reminding me and scheduling my time for my projects. She rushed me to complete my projects as fast as I could because many projects were running concurrently. I had to quickly complete one after another. Mami did not want me to work on multiple projects at the same time. Praise God. All my projects were completed way before the due date.

Other than that, I do not remember what I was busy with. All I remember was that Mami would always ask Shaun Shaun TiTi and I to call Mah Mah and Yeh Yeh in Ipoh to chat with them. However, Shaun Shaun TiTi and I would be so distracted, we ended up forgetting to do so. So, Mah Mah and Yeh Yeh, if you are reading this post, please forgive us. I do not know why we were so distracted. I guess we were always rushing to complete our work, hoping that we can switch on the TV earlier. We didn't want to cut short our TV time. We are sorry.

There were other events that made Shaun Shaun and I busy but I shall share with you in another post.

God bless you.

My 10th Birthday

I am officially 10 years old. It was a simple celebration at home, but I was touched as I felt special on that day.

My Ah Mah and Kakak prepared food and some simple home deco for my birthday. We have never had anything like this before. It was a last minute idea by Ah Mah to blow some balloons and write a birthday greeting with a highlighter on a big piece of paper.

I am really blessed. Mami had posted on Facebook about my birthday, reminding me of how blessed I am. I pray that I will be a blessing to others around me too.

Thank you God for all that you have blessed me with.

Birthday juice from Swimming Coach

Yamaha Electone Concour Winner 2014

Shaun Shaun Titi and I had the opportunity to see the performance of the winner to Yamaha Electone Concour 2014 last weekend. His stage name is Dion from Indonesia. I was amazed and fascinated with how he performed all his songs. I was just so in awe. I was so glad to have had the opportunity to take a personal photo with him. I pray that I will be able to play the electone like him. He is not only good in his technical skills, but he presented his songs in an amazingly creative manner. 

My Latest Magazine - Asian Geographic Junior

Mami bought this new magazine from Cold Storage, Gardens recently. It is called the Asian Geographic Junior. I have read two latest issues and I find it very interesting. The magazine is full of good educational facts, exposing me to general knowledge around Asia. If you are looking for a new magazine to read, do give it a try. Believe me... it is worth while reading it. I shall not tell you more, and let you discover it on your own.

Aqua Zumba

As an advanced student in my Swimming Club, I get to attend Aqua Zumba once a week for free. My coach had introduced Aqua Zumba as part of our physical exercise. It seems that 1 minute of exercise in water is equivalent to 3 minutes of exercise on land.

I find it fun to dance in the pool. We dance in the pool with cool, loud music. The steps seems easy to follow, but believe me... it can be very tiring.

My First Day of School Holiday

I did not have an interesting day, considering it was school holiday. I always wished that school holiday would really be a HOLIDAY. But, unfortunately not. If you want to know what I did, check out what my Shaun Shaun TiTi wrote here. What he did, was what I did too :(

Mixed Feelings for English Week 2015

Some of you would have read Shaun Shaun TiTi's blog on English Week. He expressed how happy he was with the prizes he obtained for English Week. He practically won in every event. I am proud of him, especially in his storytelling competition.

I have mixed feelings because there was an event which my partner and I was hoping to win. We had a poster designing competition. There were a few idioms given and we had to design a poster from the idiom we selected. We worked in pairs. My partner and I chose the idiom, "Practice Makes Perfect". We felt that our poster design was eye catching and nice. All our classmates praised our design too. However, we did not win any prize from this event.

Nevertheless, there were two more events. I won 1st prize for the Essay Writing competition and Boggle game. As what Shaun Shaun said, we are grateful to Dadi and Mami because we had the opportunity to practice playing boggle during the Chinese New Year holidays on their handphones.

I am still very grateful to have won for the essay and boggle competition. It was all good for me. God was certainly good to Shaun Shaun and I. We thank God for His grace, favour and mercies upon our lives.

Recycling! Recycling! Recycling!

I love to collect things which Mami disposes and reuse them to make something. I know that Mami doesn't like the idea because she tells me that most of the items I made were not useful, and they ended up in the bin anyway. I can make the silliest thing, but still find it nice. My Shaun Shaun TiTi calls me a rubbish collector. He too tells me it is a waste of time. However, I am still motivated to continue. Perhaps one day I will be able to make something useful.

My latest "invention" which I found useful was my home slippers. Mami challenged me to wear it at home to see if it was really "useful". I wore it but didn't feel comfortable with it. So, I guess I failed. Or perhaps I will one day redesign it to make it more comfortable, when I can get suitable materials to add padding to my slippers.

Have I Changed?

Over the years, many have said that I have not changed. I grew older but my face looked the same. Is it a compliment? Do I still look like a baby?

Here are some photos to share with you. If you see another boy in the photo, it would be my little Shaun Shaun TiTi.

The below is a picture of with my Cousin, a selfie taken just yesterday.

2015 Chinese New Year

It felt like a long Chinese New Year holiday this year. Our family went back to Ipoh on New Year's eve. We left at 5:15 a.m. in the morning and the traffic was a little heavier than usual. However, it only took us about 15 minutes extra from our usual travelling time to Ipoh.

This Chinese New Year was a little sad for our family. Firstly I fell ill with high fever on the day I arrived Ipoh. After two days, Shaun Shaun TiTi must have caught my virus and had fever too. While battling with fever, the family received news that Dadi's uncle passed away on the 1st day of Chinese New Year. 

So, instead of bright coloured clothes, Dadi and Mami had to go and buy dark coloured clothes in Ipoh to wear for the wake services.

Nevertheless, it was still a good trip back to Ipoh, spending time with my Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah. We had a good reunion dinner in a nearby restaurant. Food was good. I managed to see some of my cousins at the wake service. These are cousins whom I seldom meet. I managed to take a photo with one cousin.

We left from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur on the 4th day of Chinese New Year. Traffic was not as bad as expected as we left at about 9 a.m. It took us about 3 hours to arrive home. Praise God we travelled safely. 

Photos are little dark as we took
the photos outdoor at night.

Swimming - Advance Class

I had recently joined the Advance Class in my Swimming Club. They have their lessons on Saturdays and Sundays for one and half hours per day. Next month, we are advised to attend 5 days a week. There are three night lessons during the weekdays between 7:30p.m. to 9p.m. Mami is reluctant to send me for the weekday lessons, but will probably be obliged to attend perhaps one weekday lesson (just to please the Coach).

We would normally start off with physical exercises about 30 - 40 minutes. After the physical exercises, we would jump straight into the pool to swim multiple lapses in all four different swimming styles. There are days when we would play water polo. I was also told that we would also have life saving lessons.

When I first started, it was really exhausting. I had a hard time moving around the house after my lesson. However, after two weekends, I felt much better. Perhaps I had better stamina after two weeks. Now, I do not feel the tiredness. I am much happier, starting to make some friends. I still feel a little distant from other swimmers as most of them are chinese speaking. I am hoping that I can also speak a little mandarin. I just have to overcome my fear and shyness.

New Chinese Costume for Mandarin Week

Today marks the opening of our school's Mandarin Week. There will be a string of activities throughout the week. Multiple competitions and Mandarin Books for sale. For the first day, Shaun Shaun would have colouring competition and I would have Chinese Calligraphy competition. Mami was busy buying addition ink for me to practice writing at home. We do not know which words we need to write, but I just practiced the normal "Gong Xi Fatt Cai".

Last weekend, Mami had to hunt for our Chinese Costumes. As I am involved in the opening ceremony of the Mandarin week, it was compulsory for me to wear one. Mami bought our Chinese costume at Chinatown Classic at Mid Valley. The below pictures were taken just before we left for school today.

Blessed Chinese New Year, my friends!

Doing This, and That, with Anything

I love to collect recycled items and make something out of them. It may or may not work, it doesn't matter. I have tried cooking an egg under the sun, made a recycling bin which was too small to use, a robot which sweeps ineffectively and many more.....all of which my Mami threw away after a short while. To Mami, it was additional rubbish to keep. She doesn't like to keep alot of things at home. She says we have enough toys to keep.

I love building and making. I will continue to do it.....my passion.

Flower from plastic spoons

Solar windmill

The joy of it working,
though I had to stay under the sun

The Muar Family

It has been very long since our family had travelled to Muar to meet up with Mami's relatives. Mami has uncle and aunties in Muar from the paternal side. Ah Mah has her brother and sisters there too. However, some of her sisters stay in Johor Bahru.

We went to Muar on 10th January. It was also the date of my Lao Cik's birthday. He is my late-grandpa's younger brother. Though it was just a weekend trip, it was still fun to visit Muar for a change.

Eating was the number one thing to do. My uncle would bring us to places with good food and good coffee for Dadi. I also gathered that Muar-ians love spicy food. Everything that my uncle ordered were extra spicy. Of cource, mine wasn't. Muar is also famous for the otak-otak sticks, which I refused to try. Dadi and Mami ate quite a fair bit, as my Lao Cik would always open the otak-otak sticks for them.

It was a pleasant trip for me. I loved Lao Cik's birthday dinner. Lao Cik booked a room in a restaurant, invited all his sisters and us for dinner. They had a karaoke set in the room, of which Dadi and I dominated the microphone. First experience for me. I loved it.

It wasn't our birthday.
My Ah Yee bought another chocolate cake for us
because we were unable to eat cheesecake.

Blessed New Year. Welcome 2015.

This is my first post for year 2015. Last year has been a great year for me. A year of favour and blessings. I am truly thankful that God has been so gracious.

The year 2014 ended for me with a great time of vacation in Japan with my family. It was unfortunate that Dadi was not with us due to his work commitments. We spent about 10 days in Japan. We went with my Ah Ku's family. It was full of fun and laughter, primarily due to the great company we had.

Without a doubt, the best place for me in Japan were Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea. We sat all the major rides and every ride was awesome. Some rides took lots of courage from me, but I survived, with the encouragement from my cousin, Ashley Cheh Cheh and Ah Kim. We were blessed with good weather during the two days in Disneyland and Disneysea.

House of Terror - We were all sitted in entire last row

Another favourite place of mine was the Osaka Aquarium. Great place to admire beautiful sea creatures. 

We also went to Arashiyama, Kyoto for a day trip to visit the Bamboo forest. It was lovely walking through the bamboo groves. An amazing sight.

And another favourite.....sitting onto a boat which was manually rowed along the Hozu river.

There were many more places that we went. We went to Hakone and saw the sight of Mount Fuji. Eating was heaven to me. We loved Japanese food. Everywhere we ate was good. I experienced ordering food from a vending machine. I experienced eating in a standing food stall. I enjoyed Soy Bean Ice Cream through it was freezing cold. 

This is by far the best holiday I have had. It was a wonderful experience and I am grateful to have been able to travel so far for a holiday.