I was rather appalled when I read The Diva Working Mum’s entry re preparing gifts for teacher’s day tomorrow. Not her entry per se, but the whole idea of having to pay homage to fellow classmates or teachers in schools these days. I’ve not come to this stage yet but Godma has forewarned me that I need to prepare goodie bags on his first day at the nursery or kindergarten. Otherwise he would be ostracised. I suppose the same applies to teacher’s day? Gosh… when did this whole gift presentation business become instituted in the schools?

I really don’t buy this at all. Who started this? What does a kid below five years of age know about giving presents to teachers on teacher’s day? Why is it even necessary? To show appreciation? Yes, but do the kids really understand the significance (if any), and at their tender age really know what to buy, or what to give? Of course not! So the onus is on the parents to prepare. Now, what if the kid’s got a forgetful mum, or is poor? The poor child’s gonna be condemned. But more important, if all his classmates are giving presents to the teachers and he is not, would he not feel very left out and embarrassed? And that would be so damaging for his little ego. I also noticed the students must prepare for all the teachers. You mean the kid like ALL OF THEM or that they are all very good? Oh pleaseeee… Who is the one showing appreciation in giving the gifts? I say it’s the parents! And it’s not appreciation, it’s deference!

I suppose I might will not have a choice when the day comes as my child’s well-being might be at stake. I now remember seeing some cakes and stuff at Gavin’s playschool during the last two terms. They must have been contributed by the other tod’s parents. So is that the reason why Gavin wasn’t exactly shown enough attention - because this careless mum of his have missed out that formality?

Baka! No wonder it’s tough to be a parent these days. A lot of obligations to fulfill, and not necessary meaningful ones. :sad:

I tell you, it’s hard work to be a perfectionist. I know. Because I am one. I am a perfectionist in everything, from the critical to the paltry. I like everyday to work out as I’ve planned, and I like everything to be in order. I detest it when the order is screwed up. I will show my wrath to whoever who contributes to that upset and it doesn’t help that I have an extremely short fuse. When I’m angry, I don’t give a damn, but I will usually regret my behaviour when I’ve collected my thoughts. By then, hateful words have been hurled and feelings have been hurt.

I’ve tried to contain my need to be perfect. I’ve even stopped believing that life could be perfect. But I’ve obviously not mastered the art of nonchalance. It takes time, and it takes patience, which sometimes is lacking for me. Maybe one day, someday, I’ll attain perfect equanimity. Again, this is hard, but it’s not impossible. I’ve achieved more self-control over these three years. But it’s not perfect good enough yet.

So for a start, I should let go of trying to perfect the look of my blog. I’ve been at that for days and everytime I look at it, it’s just not good enough. Worst thing is that I’ve discovered that while I’ve tried to perfect it to look great in the IE environment, it doesn’t look the way I want under Firefox. And it’s not like I’m a html-css-xhtml-php expert. Enough is enough! If this blog is for my own gratification, then I should be happy with what I see under IE because that’s what I use. Just forget about Firefox… for the time being.

Halu, Halu, Halu…

Pride, the Japanese drama starring my iichiban idol Takuya Kimura will be shown on Channel U soon! Yesh! :grin: Those who haven’t watched this MUST watch. Takuya is cho kakoii here as an ice hockey captain. I want this man!!! And his female co-star Takeuchi Yuko is so loveable as Aki… Both are really compatible in this dorama. Halu’s other team mates are pretty good looking too.

Watch out for the goalkeeper Hotta Yamato acted by the good looking Sakaguchi Kenji. He’s the one Halu calls “chimpanzee” in the drama. Even though I’ve like seen the drama a few times on VCD, I’m gonna watch it again. Just can’t resist Halu. I was also hooked on the theme song “I was born to love you” by Queen.

Okay here are some illustrations and screen shots of TK in the drama. The illustration on the left is so cool… I stumbled upon it here and saw a few more on the drama here. Whoo hoo! And an excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, Wm. Penn dated January 22, 2004:

With Pride, Takuya Kimura has done it again. This time around he’s Haru, an ice hockey star, and he sent the ratings puck zipping skyward in week one with the assistance of a sharply honed Shinji Nojima script. It’s an entertaining romance with some serious undertones and lots of ice hockey action. Haru (spelled Halu on his uniform to provide a more exotic touch) idolizes his first coach, Anzai, played by Saburo Tokito, who, like Yukari, is also killed off in the very first episode. But he hovers over the story and Haru’s life as he tries to cope with the new irritating coach played by Koichi Sato. One of the things Anzai has instilled in him is that he can’t fall in love. Romance has to be a game during his serious playing career. He has no trouble following those rules until he meets Aki. It starts out as a game as his friends pick up her friends and he observes that she may be one of those rare, old-type Japanese girls who is not so quickly picked up or toyed with. This makes the game more enticing because that is the kind of woman he really wants. When Haru finds she is waiting for a long-gone boyfriend to return, he suggests they should just hang out together until then. Since neither wants to get serious, it will be safe for both of them. She sees through this line but agrees.

And you know what? My TK got his own Takuya Kimura Wiki here neh! This is so awesome!

View my other posts on TK here.

I am very happy. Looks like I’ve got most of blogsome figured out the way I want to. Just leaving some minor tweaking, and of course that timestamp bug which I can live with for the moment. This is just so great. I can spell out the names of people completely if I want to and put a password to that. How convenient. That makes a lot of difference. :grin: I also realised that the emoticons can appear in the form of a smiley here. Whoo hoo again!