Stand by Me Doraemon

Yes, it's Mummy's day out time again. Today after I went for my driving refresher course, I went to watched the movie Stand by Me Doraemon.

I am a big fan of Doraemon. I started reading Doraemon comic when I was 7 or 8 years old and I had the whole set comic collection. Because of Doraemon, it opened my little mind of imagination. Because of Doraemon, my Chinese improved tremendously cos the comic books were in Chinese and I'm so keen to read it.  Because of Doraemon, I got A star for my Chinese Language for PSLE and A1 for GCE O & A levels. I topped my class in Chinese Language from Primary to Junior College.

But I have to admit that my Chinese had deteriorated ever since my university time. I have been so busy with work after I graduated. I had no time reading Doraemon comic anymore. My Doraemon comic set was left in my mother's house storeroom collecting dust for n years. My mom asked me to throw or sell away the comic set, but I refused. It was an important part of my childhood that I couldn't forsake. So when I watched this movie, so much memory was brought back.

Most of the scenes in the movie I had read it in the comic books but with some twists. The scene of 世修&Doraemon travel from the future to help 大雄, 大雄initially saw his future married to 技安sister, 大雄travel to the future trying to help 宜静in the snowstorm, 技安force大雄 to eat spaghetti with his nose and etc, all bring back a smile to me.

What really touched me was a scene, when the future 大雄 saw Doraemon dozing off on a bench in a park, the present 大雄 asked him if he wants to meet Doraemon. The future 大雄reply no cos Doraemon belongs to his childhood. He told the present 大雄 to spend as much time with Doraemon while he still can. I was crying when I watched this scene. We have grown up, so we don't need Doraemon anymore. Doraemon belongs to our childhood, a part of our memory. How I wished secretly that 大雄will never grow up so I can continue to read Doraemon comic. But all good things must come to an end.

It was a great movie. Doraemon will always have a special place in my heart. Maybe when my gal is older, I will pass down my precious collection to her to open up her little world to Doraemon!

Shichida - Last Review

After much consideration, I decided not to continue with Shichida.

As I be doing home practice with her frequently and she is starting her playgroup next year, therefore I felt attending Shichida classes is not necessary at the moment.

I get to save $$ if I do the home practice myself as Shichida is not cheap. Considering each 1 hr lesson cost you about $75-$80. Need to note that the last lesson at the end of each term is term break. So effectively you only get to attend 11 classes for 3 months assuming no PH and no MC.

However if you ask me if Shichida is worth attending? I say yes. Attending the classes allowed me to learn new teaching methods and I find it useful when doing home practice with her. It makes me realised that home practice is doable after all with some effort.

She enjoyed her last Shichida lesson on 20Dec14. She liked doing the energy ball, cutting fruits, matching and singing activities the most. She was more participative as compared when she first started. She was very focus in class and seldom fidget around. I actually felt bad when I saw that she already getting more used to the lesson and seems to be enjoying it. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of enrolling her back to Shichida in the future.

The teacher wrote a very nice note to my gal on the last day. One thing I like about the teacher @ Anchorvale CC is that she is very observant and interactive with the kids. She wrote comments which were genuine, describing what activities my gal did well and not just praising blindly those "Great job" stuff without things to substantiate. I'm not sure if other teachers are as good, but comparing to the one at J10, I prefer the teacher @ Anchorvale. Her name is May. I think in future if I need to enroll my gal back to Shichida, I would request to attend Teacher May's class if she still there.

Spa, shopping & Interstellar

Yes, it's mummy's day out! Finally get to spend some "Me-time" with myself today. It's been a long time since I go out alone.

I've been planning for what I'm gonna to do today. First, I went for a massage @ Spa Rael located next to Goodwood Park Hotel. It's a complimentary massage with compliments from my credit card. What I like about the spa is the facilities. It provided the warm blanket so I actually feel warm while lying on it doing the massage. Before the massage, they did some survey with me asking about my areas of concern and my preference of the massage. Although I kept emphasizing I want light massage. However during the massage, the massage lady kept attacking my areas of concern and it felt very painful even though I kept telling her to be light.

The massage technique was not good and the massage lady don't seems to be experienced. I knew it cos an experience massager will be able to apply the strength well and not caused pain. Now while sitting here typing this blog, I felt my whole body ache already, especially my back, leg and thigh. It was supposed to be an enjoyable experience, but I think it was instead a torture. Nowadays it is very difficult to find good massager. They don't know how to apply their strength appropriately. So I don't think I will want to go back to Spa Rael again even though their facilities are top notch.

Next, I went shopping @ Takashimaya to buy a pair of sandals. Taka is now having discount and if pay by Taka credit card, you will get additional 10% discount. I bought a pair of fitflop sandals cos my previous pair was spoiled. I actually wore it for 6-7 years and it was my first pair of fitflop. It was the best sandal I ever had. Although it was expensive, but it was durable and very comfortable too. Therefore I don't mind paying for it as it can last me for many years. However I made a mistake. The size I bought was a little too small for me. I only realise it when I got home. I should have try a bigger size. So I need to go back again, hopefully can change to a bigger size one.

Finally, I watched Interstellar @ Shaw House IMAX. I watched it previously with bb but digital version. I wish to experience the IMAX version of the movie since it was film with IMAX. It was a great movie so I don't mind watching it again. Well, after watching it and comparing to the digital version, there is actually no much difference except the IMAX images clearer and sound system more bombastic. I thought it is going to be something like the OMIMAX theatre at Science centre but it is not. Therefore the conclusion is I will go for the digital next time since no much difference and cheaper by almost 40% as compared to IMAX.

Putting the IMAX experience aside, Interstellar is one of the best movie I ever watched. It's been a very long time I ever like a movie and willing to watch twice. Nowadays the movies showed are all full of violence, sex and vulgarities. The focus of movie making is profit. Look at what happen to Hobbit. It was a simple children's story, but they film it as Trilogy. Hunger Games too. The last series Mockingjay, they split it into two parts which could be done in one. Harry Potter was charming at first, but subsequently lost the sparks as the series went on. Even the super hero series, Spider man, Batman, Superman, Xmen, Iron man and many others...they just keep remaking to make money. Where was the magic, the imagination, the creativity and dreams of movie? I used to love watching movies, but now I am very selective. I read the synopsis of the movie and only watched it if the story line is something I like.

However for Interstellar, I didn't read any of the synopsis and just watched it because it was directed by Christopher Nolan and space travel always fascinates me. And yes it didn't disappoint me. The story was groundbreaking and the acting was top notch. I cried while watching the emotions between the father and children.

I got to understand the story better on the second time watching it. There are a few interesting concepts which the movie is introducing. The earth is no longer sustainable to live in the future so mankind is actively looking for other habitable planets to migrate to. Going into a black hole could allow travelling in different time dimensions and it might be created by human beings of the future?

This movie is not about aliens, but rather the survival of humans. I am not surprised that this day will come during my lifetime. Look around us, things are changing very fast. Snow caps are melting, rainforests are going and more disasters are coming. Earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcano eruption, Typhoons, all these are getting more frequent and vicious. It is the nature way of warning us. More and more countries are launching their space program to explore other worlds. Are they also trying to source for habitable worlds so that they can migrate to it cos they know what is going to happen?  I suspect when this day come, only the richest or the brightest of human race will get the boarding pass to the Noah's Ark.

Christopher Nolan is one of the best director, his movies don't disappoint so far. I started watching his movie from The Prestige and intrigued by his directing and story. Inception, a movie about planting ideas into the mind through dreams ~ "Your world was not real" still send the chills off me. However, the Batman series movie did not really impress me. I still prefer the Michael Keaton version, more light hearted, not so much violence. I hope he will continue to create quality movies. I think so far in Hollywood, only him and James Cameron are still keeping the standards of making great movies.

Oh well, what a day. Although the massage spoilt it, but watching Interstellar again makes my day.