Here's Why Time SEEMS to have Gone Faster as We Grow Older

Five long months have gone by, isn't it fast?

Not sure if you realize, the older we get, the faster time seems to fly by, why? Shouldn't it be slower?

The only explanation I can think of is that as we get older, we have more and more responsibilities added onto us.

Go think about it, how many things in life were you responsible for when you are a kid, a teenager?

Majority of Kids/Teenagers:

- Eat
- Sleep
- Study for exams
- School Projects
- Do dreadful homework
- Watch TV shows/movies
- Hang out with friends (Girlfriend/Boyfriend?)
- A little bit of household chores from time to time

So what happen after you are done with the above, it is likely that you have lots and lots of time left...feeling idling around, surfing Internet, playing mobile games, watching aimless TV shows etc...time seems to be so so so ss..l.....o........w..........

And as we get older and have more life challenges and responsibilities, below is a short glimpses of what we have on average:

- Family Time - spending time + taking care of old folks at home
- Parenting Time - spending time with kids (academic study/play time etc)
- Career advancements - how many long time have you slogged this year?
- Academic upgrade - night classes, oversea degrees etc
- Jobs - 40 - 100 hours weeks working for someone or managing your own businesses
- Marriage - tons of planning and preparations
- Spouse Time
- Household chores which seem never-ending...
- Catching up TV shows after long day at work
- Social life - spending time with friends/spouse
- Religious commitments

And what's left is the little bit of time whining about how fast time have flew by...:)

Taiwan Trip 2016 #2 - Taiwan Trip Itinerary Planning Confirmed

Yeah, I have been super busy lately and has been swamped with work, family as well as personal matters.

Anyhow, it will not deter me from write a short post.



Below is the confirmed itinerary for our June Taipei and Taichung trip in a nutshell:

Day 1

- SIN to TPE
- Check-in Hotel
- 五分埔
- 饒河夜市

Day 2

- 九份
- 十份
- 京華城


Day 3

- Check out Hotel in Taipei
- HSR train to Taichung
- Check in Hotel
- Carton King Creativity Park 紙箱王創意園區
- 台灣香蕉新樂園
- 逢甲夜市

Day 4

- Shopping Malls and explore around town
- Rainbow Village
- 中華路夜市
- 忠孝夜市


Day 5

- Check out Hotel in Taichung
- Take TSR train back to Taipei
- Check in Hotel
- Shopping at  Xinyi Shopping District
- Taipei 101
- 宁夏夜市

Day 6

- Taipei Zoo
- May visit 五分埔 again
- 淡水


Day 7

- Last minute shopping
- Check out Hotel
- Flight back to SG

B and I really regretted not planning a longer trip as we found out there are so many interesting places to visit in Taipei and Taichung alone. We do hope to visit another part of Taiwan again in December and hopefully it will be a much longer trip than this one. :)

Intro Part 2 - Few Things About Me You Probably Do Not Want Know About

I know, I know. This is a long overdue post that I was suppose to write on every first week of the month.

I did not forget. It is just that I feel there were more important interesting things to write about than another pompous self-intro post which nobody may even be interested to read about. :)

Anyhow, below are some facts about me that you probably would not want to know about but then I guess it doesn't hurt too much to reveal just a tiny weeny bit, ya?

Fact #1

I married the first guy who kissed me. Nope, mine is not a fairy tale by any stretch of the imagination. It just so happen that B was the guy whom I met again after breaking up for quite a number of years. And it so happen that we clicked so well that...we ROM-ed about less than a year later - if my memory serves me right. :)

Fact #2

I was super skinny and looked very much like another famine-struck citizen from Utopia. I was seriously under-weight for my age back then - many donkey years ago when I first met B. You will never believe it if you look at how well-rounded I am right now. Lol. :p

Fact # 3

I once fell down a long flight of stairs in Bangkok and survived. I was still under-weight back then and was lucky to escaped with just some minor bruises here and there.

Fact #4

I have been to 11 countries and still counting...

- Taiwan (Taipei, soon to have Taichung and others on the list)
- China ( Shanghai, Yun-nan, Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou etc)
- Hong Kong + Macau
- Japan (Tokyo/Osaka/Ginza etc)
- Germany - Blackforest
- France - Paris
- Switzerland - Geneva
- Korea (Seoul + Jeju Island)
- Malaysia (Genting/KL/Penang/Kukup/Pontian/JB etc...)
- Thailand - Bangkok/Phuket
- Indoneisa (Bintan/Batam)

Fact #5

I am not happy with my current job scope and is looking forward to either switch to a greener pasture after my Taiwan trip or setting up my own eCommerce biz and experience how it is like to work from home. :)

There you have it - I will definitely reveal more in my next self-intro post but for now that's it as there is only so much time I can spent to write every few days.

See you in my next post.

Ciao...

Is Your Child Investing his Time in the Right Area?

Most people have the impression that everyone on earth is born to do what most of us excel do well in - academic studies, sports, financial management, parenting, driving, marketing and so on...

Myself included.

But in exact fact, no. Not everyone can become Michael Jordan, presidential scholars and top businessmen of the world and so on...

In Singapore, we have a pretty good education system to help filter out our child's inborn gifts and talents.

Primary school kids that do not fare well in their studies (for whatever reasons - lack of interest, poor memory, questionable family background etc) are filtered into classes of different grades in accordance to their academical performance. Those will special talents are drawing, singing, sports are singled out and special programs are tailored for them.

For example, if a particular child is poor in Mother Tongue language, he or she may get streamed into a Mother Tongue class that have students of similar grades.

And if he or she is strong in subjects like Maths and Science, the child will get assigned to higher grade Maths and Science classes where students share the same level of affinity towards those subjects.

It is actually NOT a bad thing if we consider the fact that teachers are better able to take care of ALL students that need help in a certain subject in one fell swoop. And students who are already faring well in certain subjects get to learn more advanced topics in a different class.

My primary 4 kiddo is pretty weak in his Mother Tongue language - it can be painfully embarrassing to hear him speak Chinese at times. It is pretty obvious to me at this stage that his affinity towards the Chinese language is almost non-existent and I have decided not invest more of his time into leveling up his affinity towards it.

Since the starting of this year, he has been "investing" most of his time towards his strong subjects and I could see marked improvement across all other subjects.

As for Chinese, he got just a passing grade which is already a blessing in itself. :)

Honestly, such time arrangement and investment is perfect for me, at least my kiddo will waste his time flogging a dead horse.

My kiddo has strong talents Maths and Science and his ambition (for now) is to be either a scientist or astronaut.

Fortunately, his poor affinity towards the Chinese language will not hinder his ambition to become either one. I hope.

Taiwan Trip 2016 #1 - Itinerary Planning for My 2nd Trip to Taiwan in June

Yeah!! After visiting Taiwan more than a decade ago (12 years to be exact), B (my hubby) and I have decided to bring our kiddo there this coming June holidays.

B and I went on an eight days trip to Taipei 12 years ago and stupidly squandered away most of our precious time there visiting malls, eating at cafes, watching movies and what not - and did not think of visiting many far-flung places like 九分老街， 五分埔 etc which were so much more worthy of our time.

Anyway, this forthcoming trip which begrudgingly includes our hyperactive kiddo, could be one of the many more trips there as B and I were thinking of exploring the various parts of Taiwan (Tainan, Hualien, Yi Lan and the many isles) which have many exotic places that one may never get to see anywhere else.

My hubby was not keen in bringing our kiddo as most of his previous vacations time were usually spent watching out for him than having the chance to drink in and savor the scenery of many places that we may never visit again in our life.

For this trip, B and I plans to visit just Taipei and Taichung. We will spent 2 nights in Taipei followed by another 2 in Taichung and then return back to Taipei to spent another 2 nights there.

We have such an arrangement so that it will be easier for us to pack and cut-short our traveling time to the Tao Yuan Airport on the last day.

Below is a list of places* that we are planning to visit:

Taipei:

- 淡水
- 九分老街
- 五分埔
- 机隆夜市
- 饒河夜市
- 士林夜市
- 西門町
- 龙山寺
- 宁夏夜市
-  陽明山
- Taipei 101
- 臺北市立動物園 Taipei Zoo
- 台北海洋生活馆
- 野柳地质公园

Taichung:

- 南投温泉
- 六福村 (Leofoo Village Theme Park)
- 溪头妖怪村)
- 清境農場  + 小瑞士花園
- 中華路夜市
- Rainbow Village
- 逢甲夜市
- 高美湿地 (GaoMei Wetland)
- 新社古堡庄园
- 一中街夜市
- 第二市場
- 台灣香蕉新樂園
- 忠孝夜市
- 薰衣草森林

*subject to changes

I really hope our kiddo will not give us too much trouble this time and we want to also make use of this trip to familiarize ourselves with the various transportation systems (Public Bus, Travel Bus, Train, High Speed Rail and Metro [MRT]) over there so that our future trips there would be a breeze for us. :)

I will be updating this post as well as adding more Taiwan related posts as we progress towards the exact date of departure.

Stay tuned.