a clean, scrubbed-up version, found at Kinokuniya. won’t sound the same when samuel l. jackson reads this one aloud, heh.

and here’s someone who *does* use the expression “seriously” very aptly, for a 4-yr-old. so, i should probably have gotten this versh instead. seriously!

ps: i just discovered Prologue @ ion, love the selection and found everything on my list of to-buys when i couldn’t at kino, which i feel is turning too messy and crowded these days. :/

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been hanging around the YA section, looking for the next fictional ‘dystopian’ society to immerse myself in, still trying to find that same high i got in the world of Panem…

my personal utopia – sun, sand, sea, a good read…

this one, ‘Divergent’, *almost* hits the mark. the second in the trilogy, ‘Insurgent’, was just launched last week. (the author has assured that the last book will NOT be called ‘Detergent’.)

i’m on a YA binge! which is ironic since this is technically my final year as a ‘youth’ or ‘young adult’. which is sad. i should write about a dystopian world where we stop growing after 25 or something. oh wait, wasn’t there a movie about that already…? :p

(ok this is not me. but it could well be!)

from Ryan Gosling Reads Young Adult (ha ha sure he does)

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Charlie & Lola, originally uploaded by izadd.

have i mentioned how much she LOVES Charlie & Lola? yes, i’m quite sure i have. i almost wanted to do a Charlie & Lola theme party for her birthday but couldn’t find the stuff in time, so err, maybe next round…? (nooo!)

aaanyway, just found out that there’s a stage production coming to the DBS Arts Centre at the end of the month till june, and i hate to admit it but i was the one who got excited. :p

so, tickets booked, and to the thea-tuh we go!

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some time last year, i wrote about shel silverstein’s ‘The Missing Piece Meets The Big O’.

revisiting this book, because over the weekend, we did this.

i’d chucked aside some colored cardboard paper to recycle, knowing that one way to keep the girl occupied is to direct her to “go do some cutting”, and i was busy experimenting with the egg thingy (see previous post) when she came up to me with some shapes, declaring that she’d cut out “the missing piece and the big O”, which i’d dismissed distractedly at the time.

it was only later when i looked properly at her handiwork that i got the idea to take out the book and cut out shapes from each page, with some help from the girl to draw dots for eyes, and then turned it into an interactive storytelling time, with the kids playing out the scenes from each page with the cut-out shapes.

well, at least they’re easier to do than HAND PUPPETS.

“some fit… but could not roll.” (i hear ya.)

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i rarely ever use a proper bookmark, usually using whatever is within my reach – receipts, stubs, cards, whatever bits of paper, and if all else fails, dog-ear the page. and when i find a nice bookmark, i don’t want to use it because i’d only end up losing it. like the receipts, stubs, cards, whatever bits of paper within my reach.

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we were nibbling on fish and fries at long john silver’s last weekend, mulling over the wisdom of holding yet another birthday party for the girl, at such short notice.

“princess theme? fairy theme? ballerina theme? princess-fairy-ballerina combo/hybrid/mutant?” we mulled and nibbled, nibbled and mulled.

“how about mermaid? Ariel IS technically a princess…”

“hmm, mermaid… fishes… seafood… mmm…” a quick call to Fish & Co. to make a reservation for the guests, who were concurrently texted, and we were good to go.

can you tell by now that the highlight of a party for me is filling up goody bags for the kids? it was, erm, unfortunate that i could not fill glitter-glued goody bags with, oh-i-don’t-know, shell necklaces, sparkly combs, diamante stickers, The Little Mermaid dvds… because 80% of our little guests were boys, who would surely declare the contents as “lame!” and proceed to stomp the bags into a glittery pulp.

on the other hand, no one can say no to a cute, friendly crab.

my favorite item – these came in a box of 3 different titles which i unpacked to give out individually, so a family with 3 kids would get a complete set. plus, they glittered. without being… girly.

i ended up hanging around the aisle of toys ‘r’ us for half an hour playing with this. i knew the kids would like it because: a) it is a toy, b) it is not a book, c) it will keep them occupied for a while, d) it will never run out of battery, e) it will never get spoilt, f) their parents will want to play with it too. (well, i did.)

and WHICH KID DOES NOT LIKE STICKERS? please tell me.

the obligatory mix of foodstuff. because you have to feed kids at parties or they’ll cry foul and complain to the Association of Universal Goody Bags.

and now this has nothing to do with the goody bags, but it was the only thing that had an ACTUAL mermaid on it. and it definitely made the girl (and all the boys) happy, because it was sooo cold and yummy. :D

I LOVE BIRTHDAYS.

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he may not know or understand every word he comes across, but i’ll just have to trust that he’s absorbing whatever he does. as it is, his reading has improved, but spelling is still a painful thing… for me. (to keep coming up with ways to motivate him to “learn” those damned spelling lists.)

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he’s been wild about this series since the start of the year…

and hankers for more, scouring library shelves (although they’re usually all loaned out), exchanging with his cousin adam, and ultimately, begging us at bookstores. but do you know just how many there are in the series? SO MANY. i’d be utterly broke if i let him buy one every time i enter a bookstore (and err, we know how often that is).

so when i told him that a very kind aunty (who wrote in through our blog) is offering to give away her son’s collection of Geronimo Stilton books to him, he was ECSTATIC. and look, it’s as if he struck lottery! (and that’s not even the entire series, btw, plus there are spin-offs and graphic novels and special editions….)

and the very kind aunty even surprised us with something extra – a box of home-made cottage pies, so beautiful and delicious.

thank you, Rohaya, for your generosity, and for making a little boy very happy (and very occupied!). :)

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confession: i devoured book 1 of The Hunger Games in two sleepless nights. I got hooked. and now i understand its appeal.

i’d resisted it for ages, always picking it up in stores and putting it down, refusing to buy into the increasing hype.

but it had to happen eventually. i buckled, caved in to curiosity. besides, i cannot bear to watch a movie adaptation without first reading the book. (and then insisting to everyone who’ll listen that “the book is waaaay better!”)

and so, i grudgingly started on it – on the husband’s Kindle.

yes, hana on an e-book. gasps! the blasphemy!

btw, i would like to report that, at the end of my intense e-book experience, i suffered a stiff neck, stiff fingers, and stiff eyes. immediately after, i went to get the paper version – and its sequels.

so, back to The Hunger Games.

well, it sure sated my appetite like a plate of hot satay.

from the engaging characters, to the details of the world they inhabit (Orwell’s ’1984′ being my last read, the themes of dystopia, oppression, and a government of surveillance bear comparison), to the exciting action and plot twists, there is something for everyone – boys and girls – and the story, especially the gripping Survivor-like spectacle, moves at such an exhilarating pace, it’s really quite hard to put down.

confession: i tell you what else did it for me – the boy-crushing-on-girl-for-longest-time-ever part. (ikr, “say whuuuut?”)

please, forgive me for reliving my teenage fantasies through “young adult” fiction. i simply have a weak spot for strong, self-sacrificing boys who nurse crushes on emotionally-clueless girls. especially when the protagonist has not one, but TWO boys crushing on her, amidst err, more pressing matters of life and death. (ref: Twilight.)

so, is it Team Peeta or Team Gale for you? i find myself liking both (it’s not as clear-cut as my allegiance to Team Edward), so yeah, i’m still deciding. :p

(now, where do i hunt for hot satay at this hour…?)

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the kite runner

the book, the film, and the graphic novel – all left me equally choked up.

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#currentread

rediscovering the classics.
been looking for a copy for keeps with a nice cover and reading font, and found this one at harris planerds.
yeah, i’m shallow, i know.

*******

meanwhile…

is this:
a) pig latin?
b) german translation for ‘gay awakenings’?
c) kid trying to piss his mother off?
d) REALLY BAD SPELLING?

your guess.

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the recent Popular fair at the expo found us some gems… (come on, ‘fess up, who else loves Popular?? heh.)

and still digging through the ol’ public library…

audrey niffenegger (remember The Time Traveller’s Wife?) does graphic novel too.

the husband isn’t a fiction person (he’s more into non-fiction, and err, biography. like, that Steve Jobs one he’s left unfinished – i still ask if he’s reached the part where Steve dies). with graphic novels, we have something we BOTH like.

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if you’ve watched Hugo (or read ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’), that famous image of the rocket poking the eye of a grumpy moon and all the rest may have reminded you of this awesome Smashing Pumpkins video… (it sure did us.)

(it also reminded me of the Film History textbook i had for a module in uni, which i dug out in a nerd-moment to find a useless trivia, i.e. i share the same birthday as Georges Méliès! ok /endnerdmoment.)

ps: a whole week to catch up on movies yey!

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