My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

In the cruise industry, ‘last minute’ generally refers to snapping up a deal for a departing cruise that
sets sail between several days and a couple of months in the future, giving excited adventurers the
element of spontaneity and the chance to head out onto the ocean waves without so much as a
second thought.

With the magic of the Internet providing a plethora of offers, including the luxurious decks of Grandeur
of the Seas and many other Royal Caribbean cruises, at your fingertips, 2013 is a perfect time to be a
little spontanious and go for it.

Last Minute

Keep an eye out for sailings heading out to sea between 60 and 90 days in the future, because this is
usually the timeframe that passengers having already booked, can cancel without charges.

Be aware that chances of a peak time last minute deal at rock-bottom prices is fairly unheard of. Be
prepared to sail out of season to realise the best possible savings. There’s no need to worry about a
less than perfect trip as out of season for some destinations can still mean a fantastic climate and jam
packed itineraries – just do some research online.

Repositioning Cruises

Look out for repositioning cruises which can sometimes offer some fantastic bargains because of their
very nature. These can often mean a longer sail, sometimes across whole oceans, to get to their new
homeports. Weigh the cost of the ticket up against the airfare home and you could walk away with a
superb deal.

Accomodation Flexibility

Be as flexible as you can. You may not be able to get a premium cabin type on a cheap, last minute
deal, but should weigh up the discounts on offer for the less desirable accommodation – inside berths
or obstructed views for example. Read the small print fof every offer you see, so that you know
exactly what to expect and are aware of any hidden charges that may exist.

Most of all, be spontaneous and you could have the experience of a lifetime for less with a Royal
Caribbean cruise.

SkyTrex Adventure is the girls’ new favourite. They claimed Kizsports and Jungle Gym are too kiddish and lame for them and SkyTrex is more fun (adventurous). o.O”

Located within Malaysia Agricultural Park, it provides outdoor adventure activities suspended from tree. For the girls, they are only allowed to go on the Little Adventure Challenge.

We booked our tickets online (to avoid disappointment, it’s advisable to book on line), the best time slot of course it’s 1st thing in the morning, but we had something on and got the 1:30pm slot instead.

We collected our tickets at the entrance of the Malaysia Agricultural Park (you still need to pay the RM3 entrance ticket to the park, since SkyTrex is located inside), and then took the shuttle to SkyTrex.

The first thing they got us to do is to sign some disclaimer forms. o.O”

SkyTrex Adventure Name Tags for Crew

Then we were sent tp get our safety harness, where the crews put on for us, and for the children, they actually lift them up to see how secure the harness has been fastened on them.

We had to go through some basic training, and being taught which is a carabiner, which is a pulley, how to use them, how to read the sign on each adventure to know when to use a pulley and when to use a carabiner etc etc.

Then we have to try out what we’d learnt on the training trail.

Zaria was first to go on the training trail.

And trying out her carabiner.

After that, it was time for us to go on the adventure challenges ourselves. We were given 2hrs to do as many adventure challenges within Little Adventure.

Although whatever we do are pretty safe due to the harness, some of the challenges are quite scary, like walking on wobbly rope which is suspended from tall trees etc.

And for Zaria, we always have to be close by as some of the supporting ‘railing’ and ropes are too high for her to grab on to.

The girls favourite? All the flying fox challenges, although it seemed quite frightening in the beginning.

When they got the hang of it, all they wanted to was to go on the flying foxes.

WEEEEEEEE!!!

It was FUN! And I’m sure we’re going back again!

P.S. Rate for Little Adventure is RM 35.00 per session of 2hrs. For other courses, the min height is 140cm.

(Oh well, this happened during the school holidays and I’m not going to let it pass just because I’m so bogged down with work and hence late.)

Being a member of a facebook group, I get informed of workshops/organised visits suitable for children, one of them was a visit to Rhythm & Hues office in Cyberjaya, and to attend their Claymation Workshop.

I was lucky to get seats for my girls and one of their friends on the Dec 17th session.

So who is Rhythm And Hues? What do they do? From their website :

Rhythm & Hues is a multiple Academy Award®-winning film production studio specializing in visual effects and computer animation for feature films and television commercials.

Founded in 1987, Rhythm & Hues has been singled out as a leader by virtually all the major competitions that recognize excellence in computer graphics. Continuing to push the boundaries of the digital frontier, Rhythm & Hues has a globally distributed production infrastructure, with additional studios in Los Angeles, Mumbai and Hyderabad, India and Vancouver, Canada.

Some of their famous work and achievement in Visual Effects : Life of Pi, The Golden Compass, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and Wardrobe, Happy Feet, Babe.

I took a day off and accompanied the girls. Their office in Cyberjaya has an Africa theme, lots of wood, African native masks and figurines decorating the place. They have a music room, entertainment room and a nice pantry for staff to chill out. We were not allowed to take photos of the office, but I tell you, it’s a cool place to work at.

We were in their conference room, and the children were given a walk through of what Rhythm & Hues does, the children get shown the computer generated visual effects Rhythm & Hues did on some of the movies like Life of Pi, Alvin and The Chipmunk etc.

We were given a tour of the office (lovely place, and I’m envious of the employees), some breakfast snacks to enjoy at their pantry (generous helping), and then it was time for the highlight of the visit. The Claymation Workshop.

The children were taught how to create claymation (clay animation), i.e. by moving clay pieces slowly and taking photo of each movement.

And then they went on to form teams to create their own project. There were 4 people in the girls’ team, the girls, Zara’s BFF and Montesorri Mum’s daugther.

Zara and her friend as well as Montesorri Mum’s daughter rolled the clay, and formed the characters.

Zaria coloured the back drop, and then fell asleep. o.O” (Later I realised it was because she was about to have a fever).

I was the photographer who took the photos while they moved the objects around. After 1.5hr, this was what we created.

The organiser picked the girls’ team as the winner, with the nicest video made. As a reward, they each got a big Life Of Pi posters.

Now the girls know how animation is made, how visual effects are added to movie. The other day I overheard Zaria telling her friend (when her friend mentioned that Life of Pi is a very scary movie because there’s a big tiger involved), “There’s nothing to be afraid of, it’s just CG.”

We own a Samsung top load washing machine with diamond drum (which is more gentle on fabric) and we’re very happy with it.

I’d always wanted a front load washing machine, and since we’re very happy with our current Samsung washing machine, we naturally start by looking at Samsung.

I found this video when I was doing my research.

Oh My Gosh! A polar bear?!?! o.O”

I thought this video was really cute and hilarious!

If bears thought the Samsung Ecobubble was good enough for them, and could handle their fur, it must be gentle enough for our clothes.

So here is what Ecobubble technology does : It froths up detergent with air and water before the cycle begins, generating cleansing bubbles that penetrate fabrics faster than concentrated detergent, which makes washing at energy-saving lower temperatures still gives the same great results as warm water.

And it comes with a diamond drum as well, just like our current machine.

This combination will clean our clothes more efficiently using less energy; make our clothes last longer and we don’t need to use harsh concentrated detergent any more.

It’s definitely more eco friendly!

Hmmm… I’m tempted to upgrade.

Continues from here.

♥November 30th♥

The last day of our holiday in Lombok, and both Zara and I woke up 6am+ when it was already bright outside. She wanted to go to the pool, while I wanted to walk around the beach.

So we compromised. Beach first, pool later.

It was a lovely day to explore the beautiful grounds of Jeeva Klui and Klui Beach.

A lost crab found in the garden

When I tried to bring it out to the beach, it started frothing. Wonder if it’s a reaction of anger, or fear

A lone fisherman

Water at Klui Beach is very clear, and corals can be found near the shore

Mossy rock at the tide pool

Girls searching for clams at the tide pools

Local warongs at Klui Beach which were abandoned on that day

Cows gracing near Klui Beach

Very soft and fine black volcanic sand.

Beautiful and serene Klui Beach

Footprints of a Bird or Chicken?

Jeeva Klui has a couple of these pavilions for sunbathers in the day, and romantic dinners in the night.

House keeper in Jeeva Klui

Outdoor seating at the Restaurant. Not many early risers, hence it was totally empty.

Zaria and Daddy joined us an hour later for breakfast, and of course, Zaria wanted to spend time at the pool too. So the girls had pool side breakfast.

My breakfast, Nasi Goreng

Daddy’s breakfast, soft boiled eggs

Zara’s breakfast, omelette

Zaria’s breakfast, french toasts

The girls spent some time at the pool and then we had to return to the room to pack.

Our souvenir from Lombok – some seashells and dead corals swept to the beach. The red corals are from Pink Beach, which gave the beach there a pink hue.

We are so going to miss Lombok, Jeeva Beloam, and beautiful Jeeva Klui.

The spacious verendah of our room

The spacious toilet area

The shower area in the room

Everything here is so beautiful, even the Do Not Disturb and Make Up Room Sign.

This was one of the best holidays we’d been on. Lombok is such a gem, we’d definitely return, maybe next year.

Our currency is weakening, every time when I want to buy something from Singapore, the exchange rate would have made it very unaffordable.

Instead of saving in Ringgit, should we instead invest in us mint? Is it a safer bet?

I really need to think of a way to invest, save, to stretch the Ringgit further.

Going back to my pay, it hasn’t increased much, when prices of everything keep going up.

The company has announced our profit sharing and our increment for 2013.

What I get as increment can only allow me to pay for the girls’ swimming class. It’s nothing to shout about, and there’s no need to offer any one a arturo fuente cigar to celebrate.

The only thing that continues to motivate me is the ability to work from home, so that I can coach the children, chauffer them for classes/school, and spend time with them.

Last year end, my website has been hacked and some malicious codes have been added to my site which caused it to be blocked by google.

It took me a long time to solve the problem, working together with my webhost. I should have dealt with imcreator.com instead. They help build website, and their support team will help you when you have problem.
I’m tempted to move, but then, I’m worried it’ll be too time consuming.

I recently felt very challenging dealing with a couple of new hires. This Gen Y folks work differently from us, and they don’t have as much sense of responsibility, or they don’t take pride in their work, and worse of all, their English is pretty horrendous.

I think having just an interview to hire these new folks isn’t enough. We should have made some pre employment background check before hiring them just to be on the safe side.

Once employed, we just have to keep coaching them and hope they will change for the better, and the responsibility then would fall on us. Sigh.

Like all children, the girls love to watch TV (we have no Astro, so they can only watch DVDs which we purchased for them), and also play games on the iPad.

Like a tiger mom, I only allow them to watch TV or have a 20~30min go on iPad when they have done what I’d assigned them to do for the day. It can be writing their journal or doing worksheets, depending. And if they have misbehaved, for example, fighting over who goes first on the iPad, then they’ll be grounded; and they will have to go without iPad or TV for a day/a week (depending on the severity of what they’d done).

On no gadgets and TV days, the girls will come out with all kinds of activities to keep themselves occupied; and of course having a sister each means they can still have a blast. Here are some moments of them doing things together on such days.

Reading a comic together.

Playing word games. They try to create as many words as possible using only the letters of a word (elephant, for example)

Climbing door frame. I was told, if a kid has done this, it means they have had an awesome child hood!

Pretending they were super heros, and designing their own super costumes and weapons.

Building a tent in the room and camping

Playing limbo rock using a stick they found in the house.

At times, no games are required, they just chi-chat.

Precious.