Men's Division day : Aug-10

24th August is SGI Men's Division Day!  This month in our discussion meeting, I am supposed to explain the significance of this day.  The extracts from our Creative Life magazine are relevant and good but my presentation skills does not seem to be able to bring out the gist of it.  Fortunately, Shin Yang is able to obtain a presentation pack from our creative and diligent Aunty Huili.  Shin Yang then enhanced the pack with the Chinese text and even borrowed a projector from Aunty Kristie!  With these visual aids, it definitely helps to capture the attention of our members and ease my explanation.  I have such a nice and hardworking wife for Kosen Rofu, i thought.. :-)

Changing of banner photos : Aug-10

We were looking at our blog banner's photos a few days ago and realized how much our gals had grown these two years. Qiqi is now about Shin Yang's height and En'en is no longer a baby.  Thus, it is probably time to replace our banner's photographs to sometime more recent.  Compare the differences below, and see how fast kids can grow...

Old Blog banner photo

New Blog banner photo

En'en Stays Home Due to HFMD : Aug-10

HFMD strikes heavy again this year.. affecting En'en. I still recall how Qiqi's entry into childcare was delayed by a few months due to this HFMD too about nine years ago.. Well, Enen has been on school holiday since last Friday, and for this entire week.

According to Mag who called me last Thursday upon the request of Mrs Wong who has to call all the other parents, NCK has to close because the doctor who attended to the HFMD child from NCK reported the case to MOH as required; the parent of the child however told the NCK teacher that the child juz had skin allergy.. so it's not HFMD and the school did not report to MOH or take additional precautions accordingly. NCK must have been caught by surprise by MOH! Anyway last Thursday afternoon, the NCK teachers were calling up all parents to inform of the school closure.

Hope everything will resume, and most importantly, transmission of the HFMD in NCK will be completely cut off!

MDs & YMDs' 威风堂堂 During CD Meeting : Aug-10

In July we had our Youth (both YMD & YWD) Formation Days to cheer and celebrate. We had a special 30-minute segment in our monthly discussion meetings wholly dedicated to it.

Come the August monthly discussion meeting, we will have our MD Formation Day to celebrate! To kick off, we had our MD & YMD leaders during our monthly chapter district leaders meeting singing and fanning to one of Sensei's favourite songs of all time - 威风堂堂. Enjoy ~~ ;)

Mummy's Passing Away on 6.3 : Aug-10

Mummy has always held Ikeda Sensei, her mentor in life, close to her heart. She holds her head up high as Sensei's true disciple as she cherishes her members and fights alongside them for their happiness and victories. Mummy said she has no regrets and a life of kosen-rufu is indeed the way to live a meaningful existence. In very recent years, Mummy has also became a very reliable senior in faith whose extremely sound and candid advice, I have came to realize, I cannot do without.

This year is a very significant year as we celebrate Soka Gakkai's 80th anniversary and Ikeda Sensei's 50th year inauguration as its president. So why does Mummy has to go in this year when we want to celebrate our victories on December 30, 2010? Why?? Surely there must be something more profound than mere coincidence ya?

Mummy's existence till June 3rd this year is in itself a victory. By practising the Mystic Law, Mummy has transformed her fixed karma and increased her lifespan by a good twenty years! This is indeed an amazing victory as the Daishonin prayed for his mother and prolonged her life by four years.. Mummy has prolonged her life by twenty years!!

May 3rd or 5.3 is Soka Gakkai Day, the day on which Toda Sensei and Ikeda Sensei were inaugurated as Soka Gakkai's second and third presidents respectively; the day on which Makiguchi Sensei attended his last Gakkai general meeting before his imprisonment and subsequently passing away in the prison; the day on which our mentor renewed his vows for kosen-rufu based on the spirit of mentor and disciple.

July 3rd or 7.3 is Mentor & Disciple Day, the day on which Toda Sensei was released from prison during World War II; the day on which Ikeda Sensei was imprisoned on false charges for crimes he has never committed. Both 5.3 and 7.3 are dates which the Soka Gakkai never fails to commemorate and observe year after year.

Mummy has chosen a date right smack in between these two significant dates on June 3rd, to pass away. Maybe Mummy wants us to acknowledge that her life, and indeed she wants our lives too, to be closely interconnected with the Gakkai.. Not forgetting that Mummy and Papa's wedding anniversary falls on November 18th or 11.18, date of establishment of the Soka Gakkai. Neither Mummy nor Papa knew Soka Gakkai or Nam-myoho-renge-kyo then..

June is not only the school holidays for my girls, June is also the time for all to review the progress on the goals and targets set at the beginning of the year.. Probably Mummy wants us to after mourning her death, to quickly pick ourselves up once again as we refocus on working towards the accomplishment of our goals and targets set for this significant year of Soka Gakkai's 80th anniversary? So that we must emerge victorious on December 30th, 2010 regardless?

Sensei said, "If you allow yourself to be defeated, all the excuses in the world will get you nowhere. Defeat is defeat no matter how eloquently you may justify yourself. The important thing is to win where you are right now; to achieve victory without fail."
“如果轻易放弃，任何借口都无济于事。即使多么漂亮的借口，失败乃是失败。因此，我们要在自己所处的环境中取胜，绝对取得胜利。”

Mummy is no doubt a fighter, a victor till the very end. Surely she will want all of us to fight and to accumulate victories after victories in our lives, till the very end too!

Mummy's First Birthday Without Mummy : Aug-10

Mummy would turn 64 if we have a chance to celebrate her birthday together with her this year.. 64 is such a tender age for a grandmother, isn't it? My grandmother, Ah Jia, celebrated till her 89th birthday..

Jiun said Papa wants to cut a cake for Mummy as usual, so she will buy a cake that Mummy likes - tiramisu. She asked if we will go back to cut the cake together.. For the past more than ten years, I have never spend the occasion in another fashion; it has always been a pretty cake with candles, singing the birthday song, making birthday wishes, blowing the candles, & cutting the cake for all to enjoy. This year without Mummy, how would Mummy's birthday turn out? Should we really cut Mummy's cake despite her absence? Is it alright to abide Papa's wish? Is it healthy for us this way? For how long would we continue to do this?

13 August, this year also Friday the 13th, we went back Pa's place for dinner. Jiun bought the tiramisu cake from Mummy's favourite emicakes. Just like last year, Ah Yee & Yee-zhang came over too. Just like last year, before we cut the cake, it was a round of mahjong..

Finally the highlight of the night.. the tiramisu birthday cake was brought out. No birthday song, no candle on the cake.. Pa brought the cake in front of Mummy's picture and 'showed' her the cake, 'told' her we have bought her favourite cake for her. Then we simply gathered around & Pa cut the cake; a slice was placed in front of 'Mummy' too. We savoured the yummy cake as usual, leaving two slices for Hong & Dor; Hong is presently involved in the ongoing December Rains musical.

Guess we are not an expressive lot, especially so now that Mummy is no longer around, the opposite is probably more true. I had thought I have gotten used to the idea that Mummy has left my side.. but I came to realize that I may not have accepted the fact and that I may be still waiting for her return.. .. return from a vacation or somewhere?? So what if it has been more than two months? I had my Mummy for more than three decades, surely the unexpected loss isn't something that can be adapted in more than two months..

National Day : Aug-10

Celebration@Heartland Eunos

Celebration@the Padang

This year celebrates Singapore's 45 years of nation-building. In an attempt to secure some NDP tickets, Victor entered all five of us as well as his parents' names for the balloting. Alas~~ all seven of us failed and we secured zero ticket for the NDP show.. :(

Qiqi was rather disappointed as she has enjoyed herself thoroughly at last year's NE show when she went with all her P5 schoolmates. She kept badgering to want to attend the NDP, last year and this year too. Very persistent, very annoying indeed!!!

When Papa suddenly told us Uncle KC has some NDP tickets to spare, without a second thought, I told Papa that we want them! Even when we found out that those were not Padang tickets, the fact that we'll be given NDP tote bags were better than nothing for Qiqi.. :) We were still deciding if we should bring Enen..

By the eve of National Day, Victor & I don't even have to decide if we want to bring Enen to the heartland Eunos celebration because Enen's Zhenjie has gotten NDP tickets @ the Padang for Enen and Megan, & will bring them there with Esther!!!!!!!!!! Boy, Qiqi & Xuanxuan were so so so so very jealous!! ;)

According to Zhenjie & Esther, Enen thoroughly enjoyed herself despite the long hours and the scorching hot weather at the Padang! She was dancing almost throughout the entire show with Megan though she was drenched in perspiration. Megan who hardly perspire, was also profusely wet! Together, the two young good friends sang the national anthem, danced to all the national day songs, watched the beautiful fireworks.. Before heading home, they even enjoyed some ice-kachang to cool down! Kudos to Zhenjie & Esther!!!

Racial Harmony Day : Aug-10

21 July 2010.. Enen's very first Racial Harmony Day!
Afterall, this is her first year in school. :) She was appropriately dressed in an Indian/Punjabi child's costume, while her best babyhood friend, Megan, was in a modern Chinese outfit.

You probably wouldn't guess that the costume En was wearing, was exactly what Xuan wore two years ago when Xuan was seven years old & in primary one! The blouse needed absolutely no alteration (in fact, i doubt En could wear it a year from now); the skirt was altered by her capable grandma.. shortened by about seven inches! Presto~~ En has a beautiful Punjabi suit for Racial Harmony Day!

大诗人 - 恩恩 : Aug-10

谁可以告诉我这是哪一位诗人的诗吗？