masterwordsmith-unplugged

Today is the first day of the end of year school break and it has been one heck of a tiring day indeed! A normal day for me is one that is spent with my laptop doing my favorite activity - blogging and reading, of course. With the school break, it means I am lonely no more.

The day started with a session with Hobart to help him with his personal statement essay for his application to Berkeley and another ivy league university followed by an Evil Knievel stunt as I drove at breakneck speed to drop my boy at his last BM tuition class for the year. FYI, I am quite a race-car driver - when I drive, my passengers close their eyes, pray and step on their 'brakes':-).

10.15 a.m. I rushed home for my last class with two siblings - told you that I am retiring.

11.20a.m. Next was a repeat stunt of a speedy drive to the BM tutor's home and lunch at Bali-Bali in Sungei Dua where I enjoyed a tim-sum lunch with my boy.

12.40p.m. Interestingly, I was driving at quite a record-breaking speed along Jalan Glugor, enjoying the straight road when I suddenly realized that the traffic light had turned red and many cars were stationary. At the speed of lightning, I stepped on the brakes and prayed so hard, confessing every single unconfessed sin in me for I seriously thought that I would meet my Maker soon.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeech! The car came to a halt in the nick of time and Nick my boy said quite calmly, "Mom, that was a close shave!"

12.30pm My second post for the day was posted as pre-scheduled.

12.40p.m. We reached home and Nick went to practise his piano after clearing his books. In almost two hours, he would be sitting for his Yamaha Grade 6 keyboard exam. That would be his fourth and final music exam for the year (the others being his ABRSM Grade 7 for piano and violin, ABRSM Grade 6 piano theory).

While he was running his fingers on the piano keyboard, I was running mine over my laptop keyboard, publishing and responding to comments.

1.45p.m. I locked up and proceeded to drive my older son's car and then remembered that there was no petrol. Picking up my own car key, I locked up again and forgetfully went into my son's car and proceeded to start the engine with my own car key. After struggling a few times, I finally realized what an idiot I was and this time went off in the correct car and made our way to Yamaha.

2.00 p.m. We reached the music school and Nick, my 11 year old son registered for the exam. Thank goodness Yamaha has wi-fi and I could still surf the net on my pda while waiting for him and listening to other parents exchanging notes about their children's tutors.

2.15 p.m. Nick went upstairs for his exam scheduled at 2.30p.m.

2.50p.m. He came down feeling very elated and we went to buy cheese tartlets and egg tarts to celebrate. After that, we walked to the car park. I stood there looking for my car. Darn!!! I did not park it there but had parked it opposite a row of shop houses. Another disgraceful episode of forgetfulness in front of my boy. I smiled at him and reminded him that I am growing older :-). Soon after, I drove to my aunt's house and had tea there. She is back from US for a few weeks and will be returning to San Francisco soon.

3.45p.m. We drove to The Sire restaurant as I wanted to show my aunt the place but it was closed so we drove to Island Hospital where we waited for her turn to see the physician for the results of the medical examination that she had taken this morning. When I asked for some paper, the doctor looked at me with a shocked expression. What in the world is this mad woman doing?

Anyway, I explained that I had to take notes for my cousins who live abroad. Following that, we had to settle the bill and schedule for more tests the next day.

5.15p.m. We reached her home, exchanged fond farewells and then I drove home as quickly as I could.

Weaving my way in and out of the traffic which was moving at a crawl, I took 30 minutes to reach home, feeling cheated and frustrated because I had foolishly thought that I could reach home in 15 minutes.

5.45 p.m We finally reached home. I scurried around the house at top-speed to do the chores and with much haste, settled in front of my beloved laptop to publish and to respond to comments.

7.30 p.m. The whole family went out for dinner and only returned at 8.45 p.m.

Everyone went about doing their own thing quietly and it was blogging time for me again. By then, I basked in the aura of my son :-) whom I love to bits. He bombarded me with tons of questions and it was most challenging to answer them. Ironically, when I stumbled, he said,"Mom - just google it!"

In between, I also cleaned my beloved laptop and vacuumed the keyboard and cleaned every single black key most lovingly indeed.

9p.m. Reading time. I usually set a reading list for him. As he had just finished reading his entire collection of Townsend's Adrian Mole series, he 'requested' me to read Townsend's "Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction" while he read his fourth book in the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. Golly! I was in for a surprise. My boy officially launched his Q & A session on Adrian Mole and I was expected to answer all questions correctly. Truth is, I failed miserably as I had been laughing too much at Townsend's humor to pay careful attention to details! Mega embarrassment, compliments of Sue Townsend and my son.

10. 30pm Bedtime for my boy and finally - peaceful blogging time for me :-).

I survived Day 1 of the school holidays and am very tired indeed with all the rushing here and there like a mad hatter.

But you know what? I would not trade this for anything in the world. The time spent with my boy is the most beautiful moment to me cos he will grow up too quickly and soon will tell me that I have to ask for permission to kiss him!!

So here's wishing all parents and children a wonderful time during this holiday season. Don't forget to spread a little love and kindness around, especially with the Christmas season round the corner.

Take care and have a good day!

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Rationale for this post:

Many readers and friends actually ask me how I find the time to blog and to carry on with my daily activities. Hopefully, this will answer your questions. It is 11.30p.m. now and truly, day is done but I will be up again in the middle of the night to write cos that is when I write best! Take care, dear reader.

I will resume blogging on socio-political posts tomorrow.