A Cheeky Act...

They girls did a very cheeky thing today that deserved a scolding, yet being very funny at the same time.

Grandfather (Yeye) returned with a packet of buns in the evening, as everyone hungering for a bit of tea. As it was near dinner time, they decided to just share one bun among Yeye, Grandma, Jun Lee and Jun Yen.

Grandma then went into the kitchen while Yeye went upstairs, leaving the girls in the living room eating their share of the bun. Grandma came into the living room and saw JL still munching while later Yeye also saw JY still munching and were puzzled as to why the girls took so long to get through their bun, thinking that probably they did not like the bun as it was not spread with kaya and butter as usual. Or worse, that the girls were eating some stuff they picked up from the floor.

A while later Yeye heard the girls talking on their toy phone apologising to their Mommy and one asking not to be scolded while the other was asking not to be smacked.

That was weird, so they looked around and realised then that out of the original 4 buns in the packet, there were only 2 left, when there should be 3. That meant the girls shared one of the buns among themselves without the grandparents knowledge. Then they were scared that they would be scolded and smacked for their mischievous act and tried to make amends.

Grandma told the gals not to do it again, and to ask permission in the future. Not only were we worried about them eating extra food, but more so that they would eat stuff they were not supposed to.

Trip To The Sea...

We've been meaning to introduce the girls to the seaside, and finally managed to do so in April when we made a trip to Avillion Port Dickson. Not the best seaside resort around, but it was close to home, and the hotel was pretty good.

So this is the beach...

Writing our names in the sand...

Look, Mommy!...

See, such fine sand...

What a great view!...

Happy Birthday Papa! A bit early huh...

Feeding the rabbit at the petting zoo...

Feeding the chicken at the petting zoo...

Fun in the pool...

This is a great pool!...

Everyone in the pool now!...

Bye bye Port Dickson!...

Things I Like/Dislike About Melbourne...

Things I like:
1. Great coffee everywhere
2. Drivers stick to their lanes
3. The weather is not frickin hot
4. Proper road signs that actually direct you where it's supposed to
5. Good air quality
6. Drinking water is free in all restaurants
7. Great pizzas everywhere
8. Speed limits are strictly enforced

Things I dislike:
1. Chips are served with everything
2. Parking is ridiculously expensive
3. The weather is frickin cold
4. Ridiculous toll and public transport payment system that makes me miss Touch n Go
5. Static electricity, even flushing the john could cause a spark
6. Chinese food is still generally considered exotic stuff, with prices to match
7. Coke costs more than beer (for some that would be a plus...)
8. Speed limits are strictly enforced!!!

Cooking Games...

There are certain games that somehow girls will tend to gravitate to and like to play. We realised this when we found that recently they seem to like to 'cook'. They'd come up to us and ask what you want to eat and then play-cook whatever we request. They will also sometimes bring a make-believe menu to ask us to order the food and drinks, just like in a restaurant. I suppose they are imitating the waiters at the restaurants where we take them. The funny thing is the food they cook ranges from pizza, fish, soup, porridge... even desserts like tau fu fa.

Seeing as they like their cooking game so much, Grandma bought a set of kitchen toys comprising of a gas cylinder, stove, pot and pan complete with the lids as well as the sieve and spatula. They really liked it and have been 'cooking' even more dishes.

Today Jun Lee totally amazed me by asking for oil. I had no idea that she knew the rudiments of cooking to the extent that she knows that she needs oil first before she actually starts cooking. Wow! She must have picked it up from the food shows tv that they occasionally watch.

Chinese New Year... Year of the Tiger...

Gong Xi Fa Cai...Xin Nien Kuai Le...Happy New Year... these are the phrases we taught them to say when they meet people during CNY. They can even sing the Gong Xi Gong Xi song perfectly. Teaching them and getting them to do it all to perfection with us was a doddle but to get them to say/sing it when they meet people was close to impossible... Stage fright I suppose... Haha... better luck next year.

The traffic to and from my towntown was surprisingly smooth this year, such that it was like a normal weekend trip rather than a festive season journey. In all it was rather pleasant (typical CNY scorching weather notwithstanding) and the girls feel asleep in the car as usual during long trips.

As the girls are older and hence more aware this time around, they enjoyed the trip much more as they were able to play with their elder cousins. Their cousins did play with them last year too but the girls were still too young to join in and really have fun. It helps that the girls can talk now and are able to communicate with their cousins I suppose.

Hurray! It's Chinese New Year again...

How's this for a New Year smile?...

Jun Lee & Jun Yen with cousins...

More to add later, and pictures too. As usual, all of hubby's sophisticated equipment cannot seem to get photos online any faster... :P

Update: Pics added...

Tennis Gear...

Since resuming regular play in October, I've been experimenting quite a bit with my gear, and fortunately by December had made my pick. I'm now using a Wilson KSix.One Tour 90 (the famed Federer stick) strung with Gosen OG Sheep Micro 17 synthetic gut at 55lbs, and Yonex Supergrap white overgrip.

Amidst all the experimenting I have tried out many polyester strings, and a few synthetic guts, in a variety of tensions. The polys (Luxilons in particular) were nice for a few strokes, but it had the effect of hurting my arm over extended play. Tried it in hybrids with synthetic guts to reduce the stringbed stiffness and while to some extent it lived up to its promise of having the best of both worlds (ie control, spin, comfort, durability) I felt the stringbed was rather inconsistent.

Polys main strength is durability, and as I cannot remember when I had ever broken a string (usually I would have cut it out when it began to fray or lose tension) hence its main advantage was lost on me. Went back to what I knew best; synthetic gut. My first choice was the tried and tested Prince Synthetic Gut Duraflex which was still pretty good, but the Gamma TNT2 and Syn Gut Wearguard left me disappointed. Multiple positive reviews of the Gosen prompted me to give it a shot, and so far it's been great. So great I bought myself a reel.

The common reaction I get (or my other K90 wielding friends) when we tell people our choice of racket is that it's really heavy, or I must be a great player. Unfortunately while the first is true, the second is not.

It is indeed heavier than your usual tweener racket at 320gms vs the sub-300gms league, but as its head light manuevrability isn't a huge problem. Plus the stability, feel and control you get is unparalleled. Had a friend who tried it out just for fun and ended up buying one himself, despite his earlier skepticism at the weight and thin beam.

I feel quite comfortable with my current setup, and will probably get hold of another K90 before it disappears from the market. The new BLX range from Wilson is out, but it doesn't look like I'll be hopping on board. Initial reviews speak of a very similar racket with the K90 (with some pointing out that it could be nothing more than a paintjob) with a more muted feel, whereas feel by the bucketload is what drew me to the K90.

Update: I have since tested out the BLX90, and it was remarkably similar to the K90, though it did feel a bit more maneuverable, most likely due to a minor change in balance. It is also indeed significantly more muted in feel, which should make it more palatable to the general populace. Overall not blown away as it felt very similar to the K90 and lacked the feel which I prefer. What did impress me were the strings that it came with namely the spanking new Luxilon Adrenalines. Testing a set in hybrid now with the OGSM, will update later.

Christmas 2009 Do...

Our bunch of friends initially suggested having a Xmas potluck at our place on eve or the day itself, but as we were out of the country then, we moved it back to the 28th, yesterday night.

It was nothing fancy, everyone brought stuff over, and the motley collection came together as quite a feast. We had honey garlic chicken wings, fried rice, satay, and home-made blueberry muffins. Our contribution was a caesar salad (which was only missing the bacon bits which I couldn't buy in time...) Throw in a couple bottles of liquor and the excellent company, and you've got yourself a terrific night!

The girls were very friendly this time (unlike some cases where they'd remain stuck to me or wifey...) and played with everyone. They also liked the muffins a lot.
I began by feeding them bits of the muffin, but I must have been doing it too slowly for their taste, because Jun Lee ran to the table with the container of muffins and carried the whole thing to me, as if to prompt me that they wanted more...

Girls' 2nd Birthday...

Goodness... I haven't updated for more than 2 months now!

Mostly its because I've been pretty busy both with work and our personal lives...

Such a lot has happened in these last 2 1/2 months, what with the girls' birthday and our vacation in Hong Kong and Macau. Will definitely resolve to sort out all the backdated posts by end of the year!

Updated! With lots of pics... The write-up I'll get around to it later...

Hurray, 2 years old...

Ooh, what a lovely cake...

Birthday hug...

Taste first...

Let's cut the cake...

Jun Lee: Yum yum yum...

Jun Yen: I'll have another piece thank you...

We're so happy we could dance...

This is our birthday waltz...

Balloons! And cake, this is a great birthday...

Let's have a picture with Mommy...

Happy Birthday to Us!!!...

Numbers...

Yesterday night my girls gave me a bit of a surprise. They already know how to count to ten about a few months (how many?) back, but yesterday they started doing so in Malay! Both took turns counting satu to sepuluh!

I found out later that my Mom had taught them that...

They can recite the numbers from 1 to 10 quite fluently by now, but can't really count yet. Next task to teach them...

Wilson KSix.One Review...

Been playing with the Wilson KSix.One 95 (hereinafter referred to as K95) extensively of late, and also managed to get some court time with the Wilson KSix.One Tour 90(hereinafter referred to as K90).

The K95 first... When I first picked it up it struck me that it felt pretty hefty even though it's the Asian version that weighs in at 310g vs the Rest-of-the-world version at 330g. When I first played with it, it was strung with Ashaway Crossfire 17G at 55lbs. Despite the stiff stringbed, it was quite easy to play with and control. It also felt extremely stable on impact. Consequently groundstrokes were pretty good.

However because of the Kevlar mains the racket felt rather muted in feel and arm felt a bit sore after playing with it. Got it restrung with Gamma TNT2 16G at 53lbs, and the whole character of the racket seems to have been transformed. Not all in a good way in my opinion...

Suddenly I was getting lots of feel, and lots of power from the strings. I am the kind of player who takes long loopy strokes though, and such lively string with such a stiff racket meant I had to really dial in quite a bit of spin and shorten my swing. Otherwise, playing my normal way meant a lot of long balls.

Subsequently tried it with Tospin Cyberblue 16 (mains at 53lbs) and the Gamma TNT2 16 (crosses at 55lbs) and it felt good. No pain, yet good control and decent power. I think I'm gonna stick with this. Maybe higher tension for crosses...

Overall a very stable, comfortable, stiff and reasonably maneuverable stick. Wish it was more flexible though. With an RDC rating of 69 it was almost the same as the famously stiff Babolat Pure Drive rackets, and exceeds the 67 of the Aero Pro Drive!

As for the K90, first impressions were very bad, which prompted me to sell it off pretty quickly to SC. I now wish I hadn't...

Again, this is the Asian edition at 320g instead of the ROTW version at 340g.

Basically it reminded me of all the pro player rackets of yore which was thin, low on power, uncomfortable, and not very stable to boot. As SC loved those kind of rackets, and as I thought I could no longer handle sticks like that, off it went...

I know now a lot of it had to do with the strings, which were Luxilon polys on mains and some other poly on crosses, strung at 45lbs. Despite the low tension it was still awful to play with. True to my assessment, SC began spraying almost all his shots long in the following game we played.

Tonight, testing it again after a restring with Ashaway Crossfire at 53/55lbs, it was amazing! I could take great big swings with it and it would go pretty much where I wanted. It felt so good it was like the proverbial extension of my arm. Not as stable as the K95, but still okay considering its skinny cross-section. Also I felt the stringbed was rather lifeless, complete opposite of the TNT2s. But in the long run it was very tiring as it needed full swings to even get the ball over beyond the opposite court's service line.

Tried it with Luxilon Alu Rough on mains and Wilson Sensation on crosses at 55lbs, and was a lot better, gaining much more liveliness without sacrificing too much control. It was quite painful to play with however, highly probable due to the Lux mains. Will try it with a soft poly i.e. Topspin Cyberblue on mains at 52lbs.

I still maintain that this racket would be perfect with some synthetic gut strung at 57lbs...

So there it is, my short takes on the famed KSix.Ones. Will need to continue to try different strings on it in future, thinking of a soft poly/co-poly mated with a synthetic gut. Should work to tame the liveliness of the synthetic gut, yet at the same time softening the stiff feel of the polys...

Tennis...

Have been going through a renaissance of sorts lately. I have always been an avid tennis player, but have pretty much laid down my racket over the last 5 years, and even before that was playing sporadically. It's a bit of a pain to find players considering the popularity (or lack thereof). I can name 3 or 4 groups I can join for badminton, but not one for tennis.

And face it, good though playing with my friend SC, it gets pretty boring after a while, which both of us acknowledge...

So it was quite a boon when we got to know one group who plays regularly on weekend mornings, through an introduction from someone we play badminton with on Saturdays! That coupled with regular access to courts by my joining the club meant I was ready to rejoin the tennis world, woohoo!

Some of my gear needed updating though, particularly my racket bag which had pretty much began falling apart. Wifey bought me a Wilson Super Six bag as a present (thanks wifey!) so that's sorted out. Moving on to rackets I got rid of a few old ones including an Estusa and a Head.

I've been a fan of Wilson stuff over the last few years, playing mostly with a Wilson Pro Staff 6.0 (not the classic one, but the extremely rare Dual Taper Beam version) so I gravitated to the KSix.One 95. Last week I also got the KSix.One Tour 90, so as of last week you could say I was in possesion of both rackets used at the 2009 US Open finals. Sold off the K90 within a few days to SC though as I really couldn't comfortably use rackets like that anymore.

Mandarin Songs...

The gals’ Grandma bought a CD of childrens’ songs in Mandarin a while back. They really like it a lot and always ask to listen to it (saying "ni wawa" meaning clay doll, one of the songs in the CD...) especially during the day when they are in their play room. By now it has become habitual for them to want to listen to it when they take their nap in the afternoon.

Lately, we realise that Jun Lee can sing to a few of the songs, well, not the whole song but quite a few verses. We would sing a few words and she would be able to sing the words of the remaining verses and also the next verse. Today, she sang ‘Shi Sang Ji You Ma Ma Hao’ translated as ‘Mother is good' in English.

Toy Shop...

There is a picture of a toy shop in one of the Peter and Jane books which are among those books the girls look at pretty often. I placed some toys on the shelf in our bedroom for easy access to keep them occupied in the morning while we wash up before bringing them downstairs, which they call the toy shop. I figured that to them, having a lot of toys lined up in one place makes up a toy shop.

We had lunch as usual after the weekly swim at the club at Plaza Damas this time, and strolled around after lunch. I saw ToysRUs and went in there intending to buy shoes. I told them that THIS is toy shop and they were pretty mesmerized with the sheer amount of toys there. I think before this they never even realised there were this manay toys in the whole world... hehe...

When they showed signs of starting to get a bit attached to the toyshop we made a hasty exit for fear of encouraging future toy shop visits...

The Pool Experience...

Took the girls to the pool yesterday at the club. It was their first time in a pool, so before we even took that first dip, had a few considerations...

Firstly, public pools are not ideal, what with the amount and variety of people. Furthermore public pools are usually of the "for serious swimming" variety with no wading pool to speak of, which is what they really need for now anyway, not an Olympic-sized monstrosity.
Secondly, do we need bathing suits for them??? Decided not to for the first few times as it's neither easy nor cheap to get a suitably sized suit for them. So for now, it's a pair of cotton shorts for them to go a dipping...

My membership duly processed (after a bit of prodding the club...) they finally took their first steps into the pool yesterday.

The obligatory shower before entering bothered them a bit, with both proclaiming that it was cold. It wasn't really cold as it was around 10am, but still for them it was colder than the usual tub of lukewarm water.

After they stepped into the wading pool, we progressively brought them from knee deep to chest deep. They were quite scared at first and didn't dare to move, and Jun Yen quietly saying "Keng keng" meaning "afraid" in Cantonese, which she began using some time back, and which I have no idea where she picked it up from.

But after a minute or so, both were quite happy, and after a while we even brought them over to the jacuzzi pool. We put the girls to stand in front of the bubble-jets to let them experience it, and at one point when Jun Yen's buttock was facing a jet, she said to us, "ta piku" meaning "beat backside" in Mandarin. It was hilarious!

Second Holiday...

After our last vacation in the Cameron Highlands, we have not been anywhere out of town, and it was high time that we took a short break. Considering the hazy and hot weather of late, anywhere near the seaside just didn't appeal, much as we wanted to bring the babies to experience the sea.

So somewhere close and cool then... For us Klang Valley people, where else but Genting... (don't get me started on how commercialised its all become though...)

Got 3 rooms at the Awana, and off we went on the 31st. My father-in-law also joined us on this trip as he was in town.

Here I am...

It was not a particularly noteworthy trip (it's Genting after all...) but we did have a pleasant time, which is what a break is about anyway. Rooms were good (got an upgrade to a duplex penthouse) and dinner at Gohtong Jaya was decent. Also got to celebrate Dad's birthday there, so I take it back, it was pretty memorable after all.

As for the girls they were of course happy, visiting a new place, and they were quite taken in by the indoor theme park especially the carousel. Resolve to take them on it the next time...

Also went on the (indoor) gondola ride, with Jun Yen proclaiming "keng keng" (scared scared) at the beginning, but soon settled down to enjoy it.

If you have to ask why there is only one picture here, let me just say that we took probably fewer than 15 shots before the battery on the SLR gave out, which was weird as the indicator still showed 2 bars when we set off.