• The Things You Do

    Thunder Is Afraid of You

    Dear Xander, The recent spate of heavy lightning storms – in particular, the sound of thunder – had you spooked. Uncle Mark’s sister, Felicia, tried to explain to you that thunder occurs because “the clouds in the sky are having a traffic jam”, and the rain banging into each other makes a fair bit of noise. I added that the motor insurance agents also add to the noise as a result. We understand that at your age, your sense of hearing may be a lot more sensitive than us old fogies, and the low rumblings of nature clearing its bladder may be playing on your sense of securities. Nonetheless, it…

  • The Thing About Life

    Everybody is Kung Fu Fightin’ (Update: Except My Son)

    Update: Project “Donnie Yen” didn’t pan out for Xander. To be fair, Sinowushu is a very disciplined school; their Tanjong Katong training centre is also very fittingly set in an assembly hall in the midst of the former TKGS buildings. They regularly churn out national champions in the competitive sport, and their students thoroughly impressed my wife and I. However, the biggest problem Xander had was his age; discipline requires a lot of instruction, and we felt Xander wouldn’t be able to handle such an environment this early in his mental development.   He also didn’t understand why everybody wasn’t smiling (though a few curious boys did come up close…

  • The Thing About Life

    What Your Parents Want

    Over the weekend, the greatest accomplishment I have achieved with you was making you write the X in your name. Your mother is much better at this; her greatest accomplishment the same weekend was getting you to go to Settings and recognise the word General on an iPad. She’s still trying to figure out how to make you recognise Brightness and Wallpaper.