random observations

#1: What's with the fascination over Hi-5? My baby cousins ranging from age 1 to 5 are constantly glued to the tv with the Hi-5 dvd playing and replaying and re-replaying. I am so sick of seeing and hearing that now. And the girls wear such short skirts! How can that be healthy educational stuff? Whatever happened to good old Sesame Street? And ermmm.... Teletubbies (I actually liked them haha)? My cousins don't even know what they are. There definitely is a generation gap between me and them. And oh, it's interesting to note that the Sesame Street song was played on Mambo night in Zouk yesterday. I was like 'huh?-what-song-is-this?' and 'OMG-Sesame-Street?!'. And all the old foggies like me got so excited hearing the song it was embarrassing.

#2: It never fails to amaze me, with all the endless whinings around me in Singapore on the exorbitant car prices and road usage costs, I see more cars on the roads, bigger and newer ones too. I don't see as many BMWs (we're talking 5 series and above), SLKs, CLKs and Lexus in Sydney even though they probably cost about one third (or slightly more) the price of what you would get in Singapore. These luxury cars have become as common on the roads here as my Mitsubishi Lancer. Where did all these people get their money from? And why whinge if you willingly pour all your money upgrading your cars fully aware of all the costs involved?

#3: All my little friends seem to have grown up. Naijiz is now a working class slave whose time belongs to the company now and because of that he has put me aeroplane 2x and owes me a dinner treat. Hansen has grown taller, lost all his baby fats and has a more angular face now. Bamboohorse is preparing to step into the workforce and become another slave, and he was actually 99% sober (like me) after Mambo-ing at Zouk until 3am last night. I feel like an obasan now.

#4: I just went to the kindy school 2 blocks away to pick my 3.5 year old monkey cousin. When she was born, I had mistakenly believed she was my niece because of the 24 years age gap. It was quite a boo-boo that had my mum and aunties laughing at me for a long time. Picking her up from school was a strange experience for me. The teacher opening the classroom door. All the kids peering out the door to identify their mums/maids/guardians. My cousin, initially shocked cos she didn't see my mum. The look of relief when she saw a familiar face - me. My embarrassment when she shouted excitedly "Ah Jac jie jie! Ah Jac jie jie!" and everyone turned to look. Her little hand holding on tightly to my big hand. My concious effort to walk slowly (her 3 steps are equivalent to 1 of mine). Getting all nervous and protective like a mother chicken when crossing the road. The difficulty of finding things to talk to her about in the 7min we took to walk home. All these were so new to me. It was quite heartwarming yet frightening. I don't think I am ready to be a mother yet. But I'm happy to be a super cool big cousin sister the little monkey is proud to show off to all. She says in mandarin "my Ah Jac jie jie is very beautiful!".

#5: Haozi, the little boy my mum looked after since he was 1 month old is now 19! I changed his diapers and fanned him to sleep throughout his growing years. He treats my mum as his second mum and me as his real sis. He msned me on the rare few occasions I was online in Sydney but I never had the time to reply him. He just messaged me again after seeing my nickname 'Monkeycrab @Singapore' online: "Jie, you're back! Dinner dinner dinner!". "You still always go clubbing ah? Don't always drink leh." I am touched. I realise I am super popular and well liked by all the little ones. But please, I am not a paedophile ok! They are all my little brothers and sisters.