Hmmm nothing interesting is happening

Life is very much back to normal (sibei sian).

More time spent on trains and office means less time for family. Kiddos have to devise their own games because mummy is busy. The games they come out with are hilarious, esp one drawn by Mr. Morg. Throw a dice, land on a square. Follow instruction. Easy enough.

We keep landing on “find a hat” and the rush for precious commodities have all of us hogging and stealing from one another.

Morgan lands on “Pray to Buddha” square, and signals us to follow his lead to the Buddha statue at our bar counter. May be the first time it dawn on me that it is a Buddha statue and not a Guanyin. My bad. I have no idea what is in our house. Sometimes. 

Morgi starts, “Dear Buddha in Heaven, Holy be your name, Your Kingdom comes….. and deliver us from Evil…” Megan cracks up so bad.

Someone gives Mr Morg my mobile number and he has been calling me four times a day to come home earlier. He even requests to go to a clinic one day and with doleful eyes, tells the doctor he has stomachache and a “heartbroken”.

CBRC TEG6125BEV03, MAN NL323f (A22) (Euro V), Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro, Scania K230UB…. The new obsession of the little one.

It begins when Ken leaves for US, leaving me to take Morgan to school by bus. A double decker to be specific and there is no turning back. Realization of his privileged chauffeured lifestyle hits him so bad that Yutong E12, Volvo B7RLE, Linkker LM312 addiction ensures.

Total disruption to our daily logistic, withdrawal symptoms play out on every trip to the carpark:

Him      : NO! NO! No car!

Me        : Tomorrow, we can take a bus. Today, we …

Him      : This is not right! Mummy, I cannot afford a car, we have to take the bus

Me     : Listen, when you grow up, you can take on any job you want. Maybe you want be a bus   capti…

Him    : I am going to be a policeman. I will throw daddy in jail so he cannot drive anymore! I will get rid of daddy. Then we will have no car!

Vicious is his middle name…

Luckily for him, a Grab driver crashed her car into ours two weeks ago. No human is harmed but Voila! 

Morgi’s wildest dream comes true. It has been buses everyday everywhere everytime everyone ever since.

My favorite girl indulges on a totally difference path. Language is as cryptic as Wright Eclipse Gemini B9TL unfortunately － 六六三十六, 瞒天过海。

Yes, Sun Zi’s Art of War. Lots of quotable quotes neatly copied in her notebook as she develops sudden interest to hear me spin stories of “tossing out a brick to lure a jade” or how to “stomp the grass to scare the snake”.

I enquire about this new interest. And Alamak, she thinks 父母呼 应勿缓 父母命 行勿懒 is the same as 三十六计 走为上策! How can one confuse Confucius’s moral and ethics with Sun Zi’s military tactics!!!! OMG! Immediate intervention required.

How do I even start explaining Sun Zi – Good. Di Zhi Gui – Nay. (ok 99% of chinese parents out there will totally disagree with me, but I just cannot stand how morals are being taught as properganda)

Let me tell you a story about Qu Yuan. 

“Dumpling guy?”, she asks.

Yes, yes, same dumpling guy whom all Chinese worship during dragon boat festival.

Story:

Despite Qu Yuan’s political drive for the Correctness and Honor, society at large failed him. An undeterred sense of justice constantly battered by un-virtuous realities of life, he eventually drowned himself.  

Before jumping, Qu Yuan met an old fisherman who asked him why he cannot accommodate the world as it is… he replied “I will not taint my clean self with impure exterior, I will rather die than to let dust cover a fine jade.”

The fisherman left, singing a song, “when the water is clean, I use it to wash my hat, when the water is murky, I use it to wash my feet, all external elements are available for use when I follow the nature of things…“

End of story.

More confusion. Hmmm. Yah, what am I trying to explain to her again? That ethics and morals are never in the business of correctness? Moral high ground prevents one from reaching out to people? Totally off topic. That look on her face, no wonder my friend says it is a blessing I did not end up in academia. Indeed, I just download my personal distaste for moral maladies.

It is no wonder Megan calls me out for bullshitting quite often these days.

She is also upset that I disregard rules in general “because there is such a thing as Right and Wrong, mummy”. OMG, my daughter is so rigid and dogmatic. Mimi tells me kids this age need structure and boundaries so my causal attitude towards rules is causing her distress. I need to back off.

Megan also complains I am lazy, not spending enough time practicing “stuff”. No idea why I need to practice Rubik’s cube but every evening, the moment I sit down for TV time, I will hear, “Mum, have you practice yet? What is the next step? Not ULFL…. Mum, you fail again. Are you practicing properly”. So irritating. I bring official work home to pretend working just to avoid Megan’s constant nagging.

Wait a minute, it suddenly drawn on me that … 无中生有 声东击西. This woman is creating a distraction from my academic monitoring, leading me down mistaken terrains to avoid her nagging. Subdue the enemy without fighting…

And just when I think life is so damn boring… my boss returns after 10 weeks. Sigh…. Busy days ahead….