Organic Gardening

As part of our homeschooling, we decided to put into practice the nutrition points we studied.  

Organic homegrown is what we've decided to experiment with.  Re-purposing anything and everything is our motto.  

So, as soon as the January sun came and the weather became much happier than the usual sombre note, we sang and talked to the seeds to grow and grow for us.

Rinsed used eggs

Fertile soil

Organic seeds

Lettuces

  

Alfalfa seeds planting soil-less

Alfalfa seeds planting with soil

Harvested Alfalfa: soil-less are not so strong, with soil  are tastier

Spinach 

Lettuces in re-purpose jerrycans

 

 

Zucchinis

Carrots

Honestly, we are salivating when we go to our organic garden.  It's been and am sure will be more rewarding as time goes by.  Go organic, plant your own :)

She Paints Horses

Since I was young, I am always fascinated by horses.  It has an enchanting factor that holds power over any other creature.
Interestingly, someone else across the other side of the world, also have the same passion over horses.
While mine can only be expressed through music (think of a Chinese folk song played on the Erhu), Kasia Grajoszek expresses hers over canvas.

I must say, this black stallion against the red background is the one that I love most.
Visit her site by clicking this link: she paints horses

I'm using this image that I took a while back, of a horse and cart which am not so keen about.  I always thought that they should be free.

Unbridled.
This word makes me stop and wonder, what human seldom realise, that if they slow down and value the things they do from the moment they wake up, the ones that worth the most, are actually the ones without a price tag.

The Croods

"The Croods" first caught my attention when my daughter started screaming about it (yes, literally screaming out loud that she wants to watch it).
On how she came about to know the movie was another mystery.
Apparently, she was taken in by the advertisement for it on her Poptropica page that she got hooked on ever since she read "Diary of a Wimpy Kid".  Hence our discussion on the vicious circle of marketing.
When I wiki-ed the movie, it said that it was made in 3D and so I unconsciously murmured my thought out loud, "If it's made in 3D, then we have to see it in 3D...".
Brilliant!  She heard it clear enough and sealed the agreement.
Where did kids nowadays learn how to negotiate?

The Croods are not that crude after all, if you don't count the moment where the story clearly shows the difference between how Guy (the modern-ish man) eats his dinner (as a prisoner) and how the Croods eat theirs.

These Croods are the perfect example of most old fashioned Asian families.  Sticking together, kids will grow up to continue their parent's legacy, work in their family business, marry off to a guy of the father's taste, yada yada yada.
I laughed so hard because of this parallel to most modern Asian families.  That apparently seems so crude, haha.

The funniest lines that really tickled me, came from Grug (Nicholas Cage):
"Fear has kept us alive, so, never not be afraid, be really afraid!".
Then later towards the end of the movie, it was hashed and changed to this:
"Don't be afraid!".

Other lines also came from Grug:
"New is bad!"
"Stick to routine!"
Now, this is funny since my daughter, being in the spectrum, hates exactly what Grug hates.  She even pointed out to Sandy's (the baby Crood) behaviour, "Hey, that's what I do!".  Sandy must be in the spectrum, too!  Ha ha.

The Crood's world came crushing down as the shift of the world's plane was happening to their part of the world.  Striking parallel to the recent end of the world 21.12.12 Mayan prophecy.  That was crude interpretation, people!  LOL.
No, I'm telling you, it was for real, only that 21.12.12 was the beginning of the end and we haven't got to the end of the end.  See the movie, you'll understand.

My take on this movie is that these pre-historic people are the representation of us as sleepers.  We have been forced to always be afraid because of circumstances and had never been allowed outside of our 'designated' territory, without having to bear the consequences of being labelled.  It's as if there's an unseen barrier of tradition, culture, religion etc, that prevents us from feeling 'alive' instead of just living.
Then the modern-ish prehistoric man is the representation of us that wants to be awaken.  The promise of a better tomorrow that keeps us going for uncharted territories.  Gaining survival skills as we learn each day disregarding the unseen barrier mentioned above.  Taking a leap of faith, trusting in our intuition.  Yes, easier written than done.

A cute conversation that speaks more than it really seems:
Guy (Ryan Reynolds):  "Ok, now you can look.  I call them: Shoes."
Eep (Emma Stone):  "AAAAAHHHHHH!!!  I love them.  Where are my feet? (looks around, worried)".

What makes you think that something unseen, makes it non existing?

Disclosure: I don't own the picture of "The Croods" above.

Doodles Now

Now that she's connected online, she always checks whether her doodles are up on the blog.
I'm pretty slow on things and I'm starting to suspect that I'm also with her, right up there in the spectrum.

Not sure what's up with the bunny ears???

Can you see the angel and devil on each shoulder?  Pretty tiny though.

The Art of Cantonese Opera

The thing I like most about travelling is that sometimes you encounter an unexpected exhibition in the places you pass through.

Have you ever watched a Cantonese Opera?  Yes, one of those nasal high pitched singing that's been around for centuries in China?
Did  you know that if one of the character started spinning his/her head round and round (like headbanging in a heavy metal concert, but 360 degrees spin), it means that he/she has gone mad.
There are many other specific gestures in a classic Chinese opera that signifies a certain mood or status.  Very interesting topic which happened to intrigue my little daughter.
So while she was enjoying the interactive video show of these different gestures, I took a few snapshots.

Haiku

As my third grader is learning about Haiku (poem made out ouf 5 - 7 - 5 syllables format), I attempted one myself:

"The innate knowing.

Connecting with higher self.

Awakened body."

Here's her take on Haiku:

"I smell a rodent.
Stink and hiding in my cup.
Scream, shout, out the door."

Mr. Stupid

Mr.Stupid drives a European car, Audi, BMW and the likes.

Mr.Stupid thinks when he succeeds in this project, he'll reward himself with an upgrade of the car, the watch, the house, the wife (?).

Mr.Stupid knows he cannot upgrade the wife, but perhaps instead of flowers, next time is a bank account to let her do botox, vitamin C injection, and the likes.

Mr.Stupid gets upset when his ego is bruised by some old friend that identifies his fears and insecurities.

Mr.Stupid calls everyone friends because he might need them later on down the rosy lane of his prestigious life.  Plus it shows his flexibility to be able to be "friends" without prejudice, so he thought.

Mr.Stupid worries when someone remarked his shiny new watch, "Oh, it's just a Rolex.".  He thought to himself, "Didn't she knows how hard I had to work for this Rolex?".

Mr.Stupid is frustrated when work is not working out right while his relationship is non existence at all, that's OK for him, because what matters is MONEY, right?

Mr.Stupid is so proud of himself that he talks endlessly about his achievements, goals and what's more to come out of him in the future, because what matters is his own FAME, right?

Mr.Stupid disregard those who talks to him about reflecting upon himself and his actions.  Instead, he replies, "What do you really want from me?"

Mr.Stupid is happy to walk around everyday being asleep and is afraid to be awaken.  Because clinging to his Zegna suits, Rolex watch, his model wife, his perfect kids, feels better to him than anything else he can think of.

==========================================
For my male readers, please change Mr.Stupid to Miss.Stupid and change the branded goods names accordingly to your preference.

Disclaimer:
I am not addressing anyone specific and Mr/Miss Stupid is a fictitious character that represent something that's unseen.  Your consciousness.
The branded goods I mentioned above, is randomly picked and has no significant affiliation towards the brand itself and I have no intention to defame or undermine the brand itself.

Global Meditation 20 March 2013

After the amazing experience last year at the Global Meditation 12 December 2012, I invite all the readers here to join many others, everywhere around the world for another mass meditation on 20th March 2013.

Here's the link for the guided meditation from 12.12.12 and the invitation for this year's:

The Master Shift

Meditation is free, it can be done anywhere, in any condition you might be in and it doesn't matter what race/religion/beliefs you hold at all.  

See you all in the soul realm :)

The Man Who Quit Money

Recently, I've been told by people I knew that I've changed completely.
Despite all the unfortunate things that's been happening in my life for the past decade, they said that it's unbelievable how I smile sincerely and even laugh happily, too.
They asked me how in the world I can still do that, when to their eyes, I'm living such a phooey life (dejected, rejected and judged by society).

If you want to know the whole story, commission me to write you a book.  Perhaps sequels?
However, it is really so simple, too.  I can describe it in a sentence.  Where's the sentence you might ask?  Well, ask me :)

One aspect of it, I felt in this article, courtesy of the Daily Mail, UK:
"The Man Who Quit Money"

Although that is not all there is to it but it is certainly part and parcel of the answer to their questions.

Take this simple picture:

For some of you, it will just be a picture of leaves taken by a camera phone and won't even capture your attention when scanning through my blog entries.
But to my daughter, this picture immediately puts a smile on her because she remembers that day when she found this unusual orange black spider that was spinning web on its prey and was probably about to eat it for lunch.

You see, everyone of us view things differently.  Even a mother and her daughter will have different views on the same thing.
When the right to judge is in the hands of the person living the reality, the world will change, surely.

The Caterpillar

Look what we found on our rock last weekend!   

City folks like us finds much excitement in simple things like watching this hairy not so little creature wriggle.

New Year: 2013

The New Year kicked off with an adventure to a cove.
Very nice place to retire in, only if you have all the money in the world, but then again, if you are loaded, you won't choose this place because it's very hot and humid, you can hardly breathe outdoor.

We arrived at night (6 hours delay by a low cost carrier plane) to this sight outside of our room.  Excellent!  Can't wait for the morning.

 The view from our room is just as breathtaking as the view from the other venues we visited.

Opening my eyes after meditating.  Magical!

 

So now you guessed where we went?

 My knees were tight, I wonder why!  We're so high up above a suspended bridge around a really tall man made trees.

  The old area (persumably, since I'm not from here).

 The new area.  Heavily feng shui-ed to bring in luck to the country (totally!  I paid a lot for these rides).

 Sunset view on the new area.

Till next time, can't wait for more adventure.

Learning Mandarin

The teacher specifically requested that the population of people in the practice book needs to be controlled.

I don't see any control being exercised at all. They are everywhere and many of them, too!

Poking Facebook

With any new tools, one can get overly obsessive to the point of ROFL.
Remember the first tool on Facebook when it was first launched?
"The Pokes".
Guess it didn't take long for her to find that out.

Definitely, stop poking and do your work!!!

Cloud Atlas

Do you believe in fate/destiny/chance/meant to be/written in the stars? How you define it, is really trivial. It is how you embody it that makes it YOUR reality.

I'm so excited to read this and believe it or not, I wasn't looking for this book nor was I expecting anything in terms of books to read. It was literally shown in front of me inside the sale basket!

Learning Mandarin

Every time she comes back home from her Mandarin class, I check what new vocabularies she learnt.  I know most Chinese speaking children are probably onto their thousandth vocabs by her age, but I'm not in any hurry at all.  Hey, we have a lifetime of learning opportunity, everyone at their own pace thank you.

I'm no tiger moms and I see no point in trying to push your child to do the things they don't want because they came here with their own plus and minuses that is essential for their own mission.

Lets take a look at this week's vocabularies.

Pretty self explanatory, non?

Artsy Fancy

After the excitement of making a witch's hat, she decided to use the remaining cardboard to make some delightful art work.

The fancy fan & the metallic ghoul