Notes and Things on the Creative Geek Life

So, the holidays are fast approaching. We’ve done some preliminary shopping for the kids already. But, we haven’t bought any major items on their wish lists just yet. In any case, I thought I’d share with you some toys, books, games, and other items that I’ve come across recently that I thought might make for good Christmas presents for young kids.

1. My Real All-Terrain Digital Video Camera - When I first saw an ad for this cool-looking digital video camera for kids, this gadget-crazy mum immediately started thinking - “Ooohh…. ooohhh… the kids would like that!” So, I told hubby to keep an eye out for it next time we ever find ourselves in the toy aisles of a department store or at a toy shop. I guess, I can’t help it. Almost two years ago, my husband and I bought our son (who was just 3 at the time) a digital camera for kids. And, it was great! He loves being able to take his own photos. And, we enjoy looking at the world from his point of view. Even up to now, that camera gets used a lot. In fact, even the 1.5 year old girl is already wanting to try and use the camera as well.

So, this camera is meant to be quite tough - and can even take videos and photos underwater. That’s why I thought that it’ll be perfect for when we go to the beach or the pool. Or, anywhere, really.

The boy already likes being able to take home videos. So, I thought giving them a new camera to play with will be cool. Granted, the quality of these kids’ cameras may not be top notch (they look more like photos/videos taken with a camera phone). But, I like the fact that it’s something that they can be comfortable using. And, I won’t be worrying every time they drop it or dunk it in the paddling pool or sandpit.

If I do get one, I’ll let you know and share what I think of it.

2. Big Brain Academy - This comes in four versions that I’m aware of: a board game, a card game, a Nintendo DS game, and a Wii game. The one that we have right now is the Big Brain Academy Wii Degree version. And, my 4 3/4-year-old boy loves it. Even my husband and I are taken with the mental agility games that come with this package. Basically, the Wii version targets five areas of the brain: Memory, Identification, Analysis, Computation, and Visualisation. There are a number of specific games within those main areas. You can play solo - either in ‘Test’ mode or ‘Practice’ mode. Or, you can play in groups (of up to 8, I believe). In solo practice mode, you receive points (in weight of your brain) and medals when you reach milestones - Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. In solo test mode, you are awarded points (in weight of your brain) + a grade (A, B-, C++, etc).

As a mum, what I love about it is that it engages my son and teaches him a few thinking skills. For example, in one of the games, he’s asked to arrange things from smallest to biggest or fastest to slowest. And, sometimes, asks him to identify which one is a plant matter or has 8 legs or flies, etc. There are also games that teaches him to do sums, or remember patterns, and visualise cause and effect.

At first, I thought he could get a bit frustrated with the games because he might not be able to understand them. But, he has already started collecting Gold and Platinum medals. So, I guess I have nothing to worry about on that front.

If you don’t have a Wii console or a DS, then you might still consider the card game or the board game version.

3. Toy Laptop. There are a few “toy laptops” available. A couple that I saw which interest me include something called My Laptop and this Ready Set Learn! Paz’s Learning Laptop (pictured here). I’m sure that there are other versions using more popular characters like Dora the Explorer, Barbie, Go Diego Go, etc. But, I’m not really too concerned about those at this stage.

Anyway, as you can probably imagine, my kids see me on the computer a lot. So, they tend to want to copy me sometimes saying they also want to go to work. But, since giving them Tinsel to bash is out of the question, I thought giving them a little laptop that they can play with (and learn from) might be a better option.

Seeing as I’d like the toy laptop to be educational too (not just a thing for bashing), I’m on the lookout for something that has interesting content that are not just games but things that will encourage brain development.

4. Fly and Learn Globe. I came across this interesting kids’ globe in the Australia Post Office’s holiday gift catalogue. And now, I’m hoping that “Santa” will be able to get one for my kids. It just looks soooo cool.

Due to the nature of our family (mixed culture, with families and friends living all over the world, etc), we tend to talk about countries and cultures a lot at home. That’s why my boy has learned to identify over 70 international flags by age 3, and can name various countries and capitals right now. He even requested to have a map of the world posted right next to his bed. We bought him a regular globe once, and he enjoyed looking at it. But, I guess it didn’t seem too engaging. I’m wondering if this globe will make it more interesting for him. Anyway, we’ll see. In any case, it’s in my “holiday wish list” for the kids.

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Now that we’re all caught up with our 52WoC Virtual Parties, I’m happy to proceed with a new 52 Weeks of Blog Community project task.

This week, I’d like to encourage bloggers to interview someone on their blog. It can be anyone at all - from a friend to a family member. Or, someone important that they like to get to know and feature.

The interview can be long or short. It can even be just a one-question interview or a series. It can be by text, audio, or video. It’s up to you.

The idea is just to reach out and talk to someone - and share the talk on your blog.

If you’ve already done this recently (within the last 3 months), then that’s cool. You can share the URL here and consider yourself joined.

If you’ve done this a while back (more than 3 months ago), it might be nice to do another one and share the link to your new interview here.

If you’ve never done an interview and you’re doing one for the first time to join this task, just leave a comment below when you’re done with your interview, with a link to your interview post.

Sound good?

If you have any questions, as always, please feel free to ask away.

Anyway, here’s the round-up of our 52WoC#23: Holiday Fun Swap participants -

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So, I’m doing another meme for today’s Getting to Know You Tuesday post. Nenette tagged me for this 6×6 photo meme, you see. The idea is basically just to:

1. Find your 6th photo folder (hard drive or online)
2. Find the 6th photo in that folder.
3. Share the photo on your blog and give the details of the photo.
4. Tag 5 folks to do the same.

Well, my photos are stored all over the place and they’re not in the best chronological order. But, I decided to go check out my Flickr photostream anyway and looked for the 6th album (at the moment) in it. Then, got the 6th photo - which is this collage of me and my sister here.

To share basic details of this photo collage - From bottom: 1. Wine Tasting in Wirra Wirra, McLaren Vale, SA. I think it was the first time I’ve ever been to that wine region here in SA - and I loved it. It was a nice day. 2. Christmas pageant, along King William Street in Adelaide; 3. Not sure if this was Grange, Glenelg, or Henley Beach. But yeah, a beach somewhere in Adelaide anyway. 4. Boracay, Philippines. We had a family trip there. My first and only time in Bora. It was a good trip. All photos were in the year 2005, I believe.

Actually, I’m hoping that my sister and my mum will come over to Oz for the holidays. We’re working on getting them visas and such, so we’ll see how it goes. It should be good, especially because it’s great to have family around for Christmas. Since we don’t have any family living here in Australia, we often go to visit our respective families for the holidays or they come to visit us. And, the kids always love seeing their extended families.

It would have been even nicer if we can have the rest of the family too for the holidays. You see, other than my sis, I have two younger brothers. I’m the eldest of four. The second brother is married, with 2 kids - migrated to the USA with his family a few years ago. My sis is the third in the family. The youngest brother is also in the US, currently working there on contract via the company he works for.

What about you? Do you have any brothers and/or sisters? Do you see each other often? Are you close with your siblings?

Anyway, just want to tag the following to do the 6×6 photo meme: Sasha (yep, my sis), Jen, Nicola, Toni, and iHanna. Like most memes, I’m just passing this on in case you’d find it interesting to do. If not, then no pressure. If you haven’t been tagged and you still want to try it, please do and let me know. It’ll be cool to find out what you make of it.

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It’s one of those days when there are just so many things in my head, that I need to unload some of them here so I can clear some space. So, here you go…

On NaBloPoMo

So, NaBloPoMo’ers just celebrated the half-way mark over the weekend. And, so far, so good. I’ve only *almost* missed the daily blogging 2-3x. Most days, it has been smooth sailing.

Anyway, one of the things that I realised about having a blogging schedule with specific topics on set days is that it’s easier to come up with something to blog about. Like anything in life that I don’t put in a schedule, blogging can be a bit of a challenge if it’s left purely as an ad hoc thing because… well… I get fooled in to thinking that I can blog about anything at any time. So, I jump from one idea to the next. Or put it off over and over. And then it gets too hard. So, I end up not wanting to blog about anything at all and/or not leaving enough time in my day to blog.

That’s why I think even after NaBloPoMo’08 is over, I’m considering on keeping a blogging schedule. I don’t know if I’ll keep the one that I have for this month’s NaBloPoMo or experiment with something different. And, I don’t know if I can keep blogging daily or not. I’ll probably try.

You see, another thing that I noticed over the last 2 weeks of daily blogging is that my subscriber base and pageviews/visits have gone up. I attribute the increase in numbers primarily due to the increase in blogging mostly because I haven’t done anything special to promote my blog. So, that’s another good reason to keep up with a blogging schedule, right?

On NaNoWriMo

Unlike NaBloPoMo, I don’t have the same schedule with NaNoWriMo. I just try to write when I had some “extra time” in my day - or when inspiration strikes (it hardly ever does, you know?! ;-)). That’s why I’m way, way behind the required word limit. Most NaNo’ers should have about 25,000 words in their novel by now. Me - well, mine’s over 20,000 words short of that number. Eeeps. So, the chances of me getting to 50,000 is getting extremely slim every day.

I’m cool with it, though. I mean, I did start out with NaNo thinking that I just want to give it a try. No high hopes or expectations. I know I’ll be busy enough with work and life and everything else. But, I wanted to get in to the challenge anyway. Especially ’cause I’ve known of NaNo during its 10-year existence and yet I’ve never had the guts to try it out. Until this year, that is. So, at least now, I can say that I’ve given it a go. We’ll just see how far along I can take what I’ve started.

But yeah, one good thing that came out of this is that now I have a “working novel”. You see, I started out with a completely different idea for a story. Then, a few days in to my earlier draft, I ended up scrapping my initial idea and headed towards writing a young adult/middle school fantasy novel. And, I’m really excited about it. I think the story is shaping up well. But, since I don’t have a lot of time to devote to it, I haven’t really written as much as I’d like. Ah, well. I guess, that’s okay. Maybe I’ll get to finish it before I’m forty.

In any case, the first one I started was a grown-up novel about a woman who was living such a disastrous existence and just envying everyone else’s life. A twist of fate gave her the opportunity to fulfill 33 wishes in 33 days. Well, that was as far as I managed to conjure for that story. Since I only spent about 3 or 4 days on it (with less than 30 minutes a day!), the idea’s not well fleshed out. It’s fun, though. I really enjoy that part of fiction writing - generating ideas for stories and giving life to characters.

Getting the chance to do NaNoWriMo this year made me remember that I miss this part of my writing life. Sure, I get to write a lot now thanks to the nature of my full time work and blogging. But, in a totally different way.

Once upon a time, I wrote - and published - short stories in national magazines. Yep, I actually got paid for writing fiction! Some of them were even meant to be re-printed in a book anthology (got paid, but publication didn’t go through). I even got to write and to publish a children’s book (via a now-defunct publisher in Singapore; got my pay + book copy though).

And, even though I haven’t gotten paid for completing a couple of young adult novels in the past (unpublished), I still loved being able to write them.

It feels like a lifetime ago, though. That fiction writing Shai seems more like a fictional character now too. But then, NaNoWriMo has sort of given her some life again. Emphasis on the ’sort of’.

52WoC Note

Just a quick reminder that I’ll be closing the Holiday Fun Swap Sign-Up on Wednesday, 19th Nov (that’s going to be 18th Nov, Tue, to my Northern Hemisphere friends). So, if you want to take part, please leave a comment on that post asap. And, send me your preferred mailing address (so your “secret santa” knows where to send a pressy).

To those who signed up but haven’t sent me your mailing addresses yet, please do so via shaicogginsATgmailDOTcom - or else, you’ll be limited to a digital pressy from your “secret santa”.

Oh, and just to let you know what we’re giving away for Round #8 of 52WoC (Weeks #31-35):

Prize 1: $25 Amazon Gift Certificate (as a chance for you to buy something off your wish list!)

Prize 2: A goodie bag with surprise items in it

Sound good? Then, do make sure you join one of our 52WoC tasks. The Holiday Fun Swap is #33. So, we have 2 more to go before the next party.

OK, I think that’s all the updates for now. I wish you all a great week ahead!

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Okay, I admit it: I didn’t have the time to do any new creative projects this weekend. So, instead, I’m sharing with you something I did a few weekends ago. Yes, I made bucket hats! Well, actually, as the kids are always needing hats for school/childcare/outings, I got inspired to make one of each for the boy and the girl.

You see, I found a free pattern online with instructions on how to sew bucket hats. But, for some reason, the URL is not available anymore. However, I do have a copy that I’m happy to send to folks who might want to give it a go. Just leave a comment in this post (using your valid email address) and I’ll email the PDF file of the bucket hat pattern to you.

The bucket hat pattern has only one size. But, I ended up photocopying the patterns and reducing the sizes accordingly. I just used my home all-in-one scanner/printer/copier.

As I mentioned, I made two of these hats. And, I used these really cute double-sided Japanese craft fabric for the project. One’s in purple with bunnies and flowers in them (pictured here). And, another’s one navy blue with owls in them (for the boy). I got the fabric from a local shop called Lincraft.

It was the first sewing project that I tried using a pattern. Cutting the fabric and following the instructions were no problem. It was making nice, smooth lines when sewing the fabric together that was a real challenge to me. As you can probably see here, the hat’s a bit crooked.

But, the kids love them anyway. I think they really enjoy knowing that I made the hats especially for them.

Anyway, here’s my girl modelling her custom-made bucket hat:

Maybe next time I sew new bucket hats, I can make them straighter.

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This image came to me when I saw my daughter’s ball haphazardly thrown right next to my pink Crocs by the shoe rack. The shapes (how many circles can you see?) + the colours immediately caught my photographer’s eye. The words “summer feet” came to mind. That’s when I knew that I had to capture that image.

But, instead of simply taking a photo of what I saw, I decided to give it a bit more context. Like a story within a story. A picture within a picture.

So, here it is.

Really a good reminder that summer has arrived here in Adelaide. Yes, we’ve had quite a few scorching days lately (up to 38 degrees Celsius!).

But, in spite some of these odd heat waves, I can’t help but love summer. I enjoy being able to wear skirts and dresses once more. And, to be able to go to the beach again! Plus, all the BBQs we get to do now. It’s great.

Anyway, writing of stories, I thought I’d also share the background of these pink Crocs.

When I first saw these shoes a few years ago, I knew that they were going to be quite popular. That’s partly why I kept away from them. So, for many years, I avoided buying Crocs.

Last September though, during a shopping trip on my last day in Vegas with the lovely Jeanne and her sweet hubby Jyle post-BWE, I made the mistake of wearing high-heeled shoes. With aching feet and lots of bags to carry, I caved in when I saw these Crocs on sale for $19 at the outlet shop. I even decided to buy my husband a pair too (in a different style and colour, of course ;-)). Definitely ended up happy to be travelling back to Australia in comfy shoes with my over baggaged suitcase. Even if Crocs do make feet look weird and very un-sexy. Heh.

Hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend!

P.S. - Just realised that this is the half-way mark of NaBloPoMo ‘08! Woohoo. 15 days straight of daily blogging. Yay. I hope that my fellow NaBloPoMo-ers are doing well.

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For many years, I’ve convinced myself that I didn’t really like sushi. I think I made that snap judgement as a teenager after I tasted my first California Maki Roll from a fastfood place. Not a great place to start learning the art of eating sushi. But yes, after that, I didn’t venture much in to sushi eating.

Early this year though, I made the decision to give sushi another try. And, I’m so glad I did. Now, I have another source of great food enjoyment.

In fact, I liked sushi so much, I ended up wanting to learn how to make them at home. And, one of the first step-by-step instruction that I found was this from Coconut and Lime: How to Make Maki Sushi. But, before I got the chance to try that one out, I found this kit from the local grocery store that I go to:

It’s the Obento Sushi Kit.

And, it contains the following inside one box:

• a packet of sushi rice
• Nori (seaweed sheet)
• vinegar mixing powder (for the sushi rice)
• a small bottle of soy sauce (for dipping)
• a small packet of wasabi
• a bamboo mat (for rolling the sushi)
• an instruction booklet

So, basically, all you need really is to buy whatever sushi filling you want to put in. So far, I’ve been going for either seasoned tuna + cucumber combo or chicken teriyaki + avocado combo or the freshly seasoned shrimp + avocado or cucumber combo.

Using the kit, I’ve managed to replicate the sushi flavour that I like. So, the Obento Sushi Kit does come recommended if you’re a newbie wannabe sushi maker like me.

Now, my next challenge is to learn how to improve my sushi making skills. And - try to explore other ways of making sushi. Even if it means just changing the fillings that I’m used to!

I mean, look at this Papaya Shikai Maki and the intricate way that they’re rolled. I even heard some people can make mini sculptures with their sushi. Not sure how that works out - but definitely way out of my league.

Do YOU like sushi? What are your favourite types of sushi? Have you tried to make your own sushi yet?

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