Hello ... again

Source: blogs.discovermagazine.com

It dawned on me that this blog has been forsaken for a good half year. Where had the time gone??

Amongst Other Things

Recently, I happened to find out that mommy had an abortion before. I knew she had a miscarriage because she told me long time ago, but she has never mentioned about abortion and it was daddy's (as always) loose-mouth that gave it away. Mommy is an extremely reserved person and I felt she didn't want to talk about it; therefore, I didn't probe further. But I am curious!

Few days ago, I talked about one of my secrets that I thought I would not share with anyone forever. It has traumatized me for years and to my surprise, it wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be to talk about this. I merely said one sentence about this, leaving out the details on purpose. Mommy kept on asking the subject (i.e. "who is the person?") of this matter and guessed "ghost" when I kept quiet (it's hungry ghost month for us Chinese), how funny. Retaliation has been executed.

I especially enjoy a particular month of the year; the month in which we celebrate daddy's birthday. Corporate institutions usually send cakes, gifts and vouchers etc and usually, I am the only one who is bothered to utilize them.

Paranoid Woman Returns

I vouch by 'imaginary boyfriend' strategy. I have practiced it on several individuals and it worked all the time. Basically, I just told these guys that I am thinking of a particular person whom is not my boyfriend, however we act just like normal couples do, but status-wise, we are not officially together. Every single time I recited this sentence, I sensed that they instantly backed off.

Shortly after this post, I exercised the mentioned strategy on AK during one of our daily MSN conversations. I am not fond of lying but I grew tired of his persistent advances. So, when I threw in that sentence in our chat session, he simply wished me good luck and subsequently went offline. The very next day, as I expected, I received no sms from him throughout the whole day and the same goes to the day after the next day; basically, he stopped texting since the execution of that strategy. While I admit that I felt quite weird for the first few days because I was used to read his text messages every few hours, but I was elated at the same time, I need not rake my brain to come up with plausible excuses anymore.

Consequently, we stopped talking on MSN because I went back to my hometown for a month period. And credit to my stupidity, I called out to him on MSN when I got back to Singapore. These days, he has been non-stoply asking where am I heading for dinner or where am I going tomorrow. I am getting irritated by this; having to answer his questions is like intruding my privacy. Thankfully, he has not (not even once) suggest that I go out with him.

New Interest

Source: www.toonpool.com

I know I kinda ditch this blog for a while now but I have a good reason to do so. You see, I have just signed up for a gym membership as well as personal training sessions. Well, I am not that busy with the exercises because these personal trainings are just twice weekly for an hour each.

The real excuse behind the absent on the updates of this blog lies in the personal trainer, who I am madly flirting with. And he is not even a hunk! I guess I am just being a biatch.

Virgin Trips to Gynae

Source: Medrevise.co.uk

I finally decided to pay my mom’s gynae a visit after possibly a year of persistent persuasion from the parents. I didn’t realize but also thankful for picking such a good timing for a vaccination because the AH1N1 flu outbreak had made the queues (from taking a blood sample to various scans to meet the doctor) drastically shorter. I went into the hospital at 9:30 am and was done by 12:30 noon! So I walked around aimlessly for almost 2 hours because (knowing the check-up is usually time-consuming) I have fixed a rather late lunch date.

I must admit that I have been feeling uncomfortable throughout the day. The tests and scans done on me were perfectly normal, such as I had to take down my panty but it was expected. It must have been what I have experienced in the doctor’s room that makes me this uneasy. Can’t believe I have chosen to see an old male doctor, but he is well known in gynecology field.

Everything went fine until after the consultation, the doctor pointed me to a small, veiled area meant for check-up. A nurse, while helping me to unhook bra and remove panty, asked me in a very low voice with skeptical facial expression whether I really want a pap smear. I managed to whisper “I think the doc wants me to” before he came in. He first checked my boobs, quoted they were normal, and guided my hand to feel/check my boobs thoroughly. Then I had to spread my legs wide so that he could inspect my genital closely and extracted some discharge for an examination. All these while, I had been gazing at the wall above me, THEN he asked me to look at the monitor. Subsequently, he explained every aspect of my genital in great detail, for an example, “this is your clitoris and you should feel something” while tapping on the nut. To finish it off, he gave the genital a gentle 3 seconds massage.

I am not sure whether the majority of women experience the same kind of treatment as I did but the whole process felt like a sex education session, just in a practical way.

A Paranoid Woman In Charge Continued

And so the date went well. AK wanted me to try an unique combination of ice-cream in a neighbourhood ice-cream parlour which I think suits best for teenagers. Prior to this date, I have never thought of (especially in this age and location) meeting a man over ice cream in a young and hippy dessert parlour. We chatted briefly (because ice-cream will melt) and he planned to walk me home. On the way home, he kept on suggesting we should visit a touristy attraction which I have never been to; I relented after his numerous tries just because I don't want to sound like we have a bad date that I just want to rush back home. So we walked for another hour before I reached home. Then the real problem start to arise: he practically smsed every 2 to 3 hours (minus sleeping time) to check up on me, ask me what's my plan for tomorrow and ask me out at every opportunity! This is painstakingly tiring; breakfast at 6 am, walk along the beach, exercise together and join him in a gathering etc. I am seriously googling for excuses to shut him from asking me out. Hmm ... I think I may put my imaginary boyfriend into a good use this time.

Next, I mentioned about the maid who I suspected taking possession of my night bras. Well, I found out *relieved* she returned all my current night bras into my wardrobe but is definitely wearing my old night bra without my permission. I must have dumped it somewhere and she picked it up. The other maid also has the habit of wearing the clothes I threw away, I am totally fine with this as long as I am not wearing them anymore.

Super Babies Continued

Continuing from the last post, I found a website that discussed the topic of gifted children in great detail.

Source: CartoonStock.com

ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children (1985) cites three types of characteristics of gifted children: general behavioral, learning, and creative characteristics.

General behavioral

Gifted children's behavior differs from that of their age-mates in the following ways:

Many gifted children learn to read early, with better comprehension of the nuances of language. As much as half the gifted and talented population has learned to read before entering school.

Gifted children often read widely, quickly, and intensely and have large vocabularies.

Gifted children commonly learn basic skills better, more quickly, and with less practice.

They are better able to construct and handle abstractions.

They often pick up and interpret nonverbal cues and can draw inferences that other children need to have spelled out for them.

They take less for granted, seeking the "hows" and "whys."

They can work independently at an earlier age and can concentrate for longer periods.

Their interests are both wildly eclectic and intensely focused.

They often have seemingly boundless energy, which sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis of hyperactivity.

They usually respond and relate well to parents, teachers, and other adults. They may prefer the company of older children and adults to that of their peers.

They like to learn new things, are willing to examine the unusual, and are highly inquisitive.

They tackle tasks and problems in a well-organized, goal-directed, and efficient manner.

They exhibit an intrinsic motivation to learn, find out, or explore and are often very persistent. "I'd rather do it myself" is a common attitude.

Learning

Gifted children are natural learners who often show many of these characteristics:

They may show keen powers of observation and a sense of the significant; they have an eye for important details.

They may read a great deal on their own, preferring books and magazines written for children older than they are.

They often take great pleasure in intellectual activity.

They have well-developed powers of abstraction, conceptualization, and synthesis.

They readily see cause-effect relationships.

They often display a questioning attitude and seek information for its own sake as much as for its usefulness.

They are often skeptical, critical, and evaluative. They are quick to spot inconsistencies.

They often have a large storehouse of information about a variety of topics, which they can recall quickly.

They readily grasp underlying principles and can often make valid generalizations about events, people, or objects.

They quickly perceive similarities, differences, and anomalies.

They often attack complicated material by separating it into components and analyzing it systematically.

Creative

Gifted children's creative abilities often set them apart from their age-mates. These characteristics may take the following forms:

Gifted children are fluent thinkers, able to generate possibilities, consequences, or related ideas.

They are flexible thinkers, able to use many different alternatives and approaches to problem solving.

They are original thinkers, seeking new, unusual, or unconventional associations and combinations among items of information.

They can also see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects, ideas, or facts.

They are elaborate thinkers, producing new steps, ideas, responses, or other embellishments to a basic idea, situation, or problems.

They are willing to entertain complexity and seem to thrive on problem solving.

They are good guessers and can readily construct hypotheses or "what if" questions.

They often are aware of their own impulsiveness and irrationality, and they show emotional sensitivity.

They are extremely curious about objects, ideas, situations, or events.

They often display intellectual playfulness and like to fantasize and imagine.

They can be less intellectually inhibited than their peers are in expressing opinions and ideas, and they often disagree spiritedly with others' statements.

They are sensitive to beauty and are attracted to aesthetic values.

BUT identifying gifted children is not an easy task. Some gifted are realised straight after they were born while some had shown later on in their lives. Below are the examples of the latter:

1. Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read.
2. Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school.
3. When Thomas Edison was a boy, his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything.
4. F.W.Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21. But his employers would not let him wait on a customer because he "didn't have enough sense".
5. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had "no good ideas".
6. Catuso's music teacher told him "you can't sing, you have no voice at all".
7. Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college.
8. Verner Von Braun flunked 9th grade algebra.
9. Admiral Richard E. Byrd had been retired from the navy, as, "unfit for service" until he flew over both poles.
10. Louis Pasteur was rated as mediocre in chemistry when he attended the Royal College.
11. Abraham Lincoln entered The Black Hawk War as a captain and came out a private.
12. Fred Waring was once rejected from high school chorus.
13. Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade.