Good old comic :)

Dear Matt,

We have been restricting your time on the iPad, almost none on weekdays and some at the weekends. So every time we offered the iPad to you, you have never once refused, it’s like offering ‘cookies’ to the Cookie Monster, haa haa haa.

This morning you were such a good boy, showered and dressed on time and without a fuss, and with your mother being away (you told me after you’ve just woken up that you’d wished ‘Mama was here with us’), so I’ve decided to offer you the iPad on our short drive to school, but you said ‘no thanks’… :)

Instead you wanted your Beano, lol, and during the 20 minutes or so drive, I didn’t hear a peep from you :) I’d guess Beano was doing something right :)

Coming off the bench :)

Dear Matt and Marcella,

Your mother will be travelling to Vietnam this coming Wednesday (back on Friday), this of course will allow me to come off the bench haa haa haa haa haa. It was a bit of a surprise, but good for her though.

There is also a chance that I’ll be off to the UK at the end of this month, but that will once again depends if I can get the Visa in time. Unfortunately having discovered that my passport’s validity is less than 6 months (which in reality means my passport is totally useless) meant this morning I had to rushed across the city to get a new passport, the whole process was way too professional and smooth than I could have ever imagined.

I’ve been instructed to pick up my new passport on Wednesday, that leaves me with less than ten days to get a UK Visa, I just want to laugh out loud... I don’t think I am going to make it, but will try anyway :)

A promise kept :)

Dear Matthias and Marcella,

We've been to Asiatique a couple of times now, and on both occasions we’ve managed to miss out on the Ferris wheel ride... ‘the queue was too long’, ‘it was getting late’ and so on. Matt was pretty upset that twice he wasn't able to go on the ride, and so we promised him that next time, the first thing we would do was to go up the Ferris Wheel before we do anything else, lol.

Today (16th) everything was running a bit late, lunch didn't happen until way gone one, so it was natural to skip March's Gymboree class and find something fun to do. By two o’clock-ish we were scratching our heads, your mother mentioned Asiatique and an old debt came to mind :)

At 15:00 Asiatique was just stirring and not everything was open, it is more of a night bazaar kind of a place. After talking to some staff by the Ferris wheel, we shall have to come back in about an hour when they open. After a quick walkabout, a coffee, and two huge pieces of cake later, we headed back to the Ferris wheel.

Matt was giddy with anticipation :) Marcella was just going along for the ride so to speak, haa haa haa (250 THB for adult and 150 for children). Their operation was very professional, they took care of the pram and soon we were ushered into an air conditioned pod (does one call it a pod?).

I think it went for about 6 cycles, and we enjoyed every seconds of it, there was also a pause during one of the cycle for us to enjoy the view.

After the ride we took a walk around the place and it was obvious that you two were feeling the full effect of the heat, so we took a short break for some cold drinks, then Matt decided he wanted a boat ride, there was a 10 minutes free boat service from Asiatique to Sathorn port.

We went through several scenarios, Mum and March drive the car home while Matt and I take the boat then a taxi home from Sathorn; all of us take the boat to Sathorn, then you lot take a taxi home while I take the boat back to get the car, etc, etc.

As it turned out, the easiest solution won, all of us took the boat there and back... haa haa haa, March was extra quiet (her first time on river boat), Matt was a little miffed that the boat was going so slowly, lol.

It was a pretty fun filled afternoon, luckily the rain managed to hold up, the searing hot sun was blocked by the overcast sky, the wind was light and breezy, but the humidity was something of a challenge for the both of you :)

SSoHPKC, The Last Of Us gameplay

Dear Matthias and Marcella,

The last time I’ve played a VDO game Moses was just parting the red sea… seriously the last time a gamepad was in my hands Matt was still sleeping inside his mother, so that would be around 5 years ago.

I don’t often subscribe to Youtube channels, but if one is into gaming and enjoy watching gameplay from the beginning to the end, I am sure there are many options out there to subscribe to, but I’ve chosen to SSoHPKC to be my guide (in the comment section people refer to him as Sheamus). /NOTE/ his commentary can be rather colourful, so be warned.

The ‘Last of Us’ (pics and clips) have been flying around the net for several months now, and recently it had been released. I’d bought the original PlayStation so that I could play ‘Tomb Raider’, I was thinking of getting PS3 just for this game :) but common sense came through… might as well wait for the PS4 haa haa haa, and also for hell to freezes over because your mother will never say yes :)

And so far, from the first two VDOs SSoHPKC had posted I can understand why various ‘authorities’ have given great praises for this release. Can not wait to see #3.

 

SSoHPKC: The last of us #1

 

SSoHPKC: The last of us #2

According to plan :)

Dear Matthias and Marcella,

This Saturday is going swimmingly (touch wood), even John ‘Hannibal’ Smith would have been proud :) Matt felt asleep as soon as we got in the car, and by 15:40 we were home (as predicted) to find March on high spirit and your mother pretty much tired out, haa haa haa.

Not wanting March to be bored, your mother has taken her out to the Gardeners, and probably to some place else after that.

You are now snoring away next door, so I now have a bit of time on my hand, to quickly jot down a few words for this post :)

Looks like nothing much will happen this evening, probably early bath for the both of you then supper and some play time before bed :) Another full day over (phew), tomorrow will be just the same :)

Typical Saturday :)

Dear Matt and Marcella,

You two are now in your respective Brain School class, March should be finishing around ten and Matt around ten thirty; your mother is busy with her committee meeting until noon and your auntie is teaching so that leaves yours truly to be the logistic master for this morning.

So here is the plan, last sip of my Americano at SB by 09:55 that should allow me to arrive at March’s class by 10:00. Allow 10 minutes to be debriefed by your teacher, another 10 minutes to walk home, so by 10:25 March should already be on the sofa downing her first bottle of milk :). Hopefully by then your auntie should be back to take care of March while I rush back to Brain School to pick up Matt.

Allowing for the same amount of time for Matt, thus Matt and I  should be back home by 10:50, but by then March should be fast asleep (hopefully until around noon), that would allow your aunt to nip out to get your lunch while I look after Matt.

By 10:55  Matt must already be drinking his milk, and based on average drinking time  he should be done by 11:05, after which entertainment :) will be offered, this being a Saturday :) Your auntie should easily be back by 11:15 with lunch.

Lunch for you two should start by 12:00 at the very latest, as Matt has to be out again by 13:00 for his Piano then Clayworks lessons (Saturday’s traffic is getting worse and worse). Your mother should be back by the time Matt and I leave, she will then probably take March to the Gardeners :).

Piano and Clayworks will take an hour and a half, another 15 minutes to hang around, 25 more minutes to drive home. By the time we arrive home at 15:45 Matt could be asleep or still awake, the ‘awake’ plan meant snack and perhaps more entertainment :), ‘sleep’ plan is me drinking more coffee and just zombie out, haa haa haa.

I’ll leave the evening’s plan for your mother to decide... eat out, eat in, early bath, swim, shopping? haa haa haa.

Not a single drop

Dear Matt and Marcella,

It has been about 14 years since BTS (Sky Train) have been in service, originally it was rather a one dimensional service (up and down Sukhumvit and Silom road). Through out the years BTS coverage has grown and is still growing, together with MRT and its expansion, travelling around BKK have never been so easy :)

I think by the time you two are old enough to be let out by yourselves, not a single drop of rain nor a single ray of sunshine will touch the ground :) the sky tracks and sky walkways should by then cover every inch of sky around the center of BKK :)

Not a bad thing really, considering by then the green house effect should be in high gear, sunshine would be the last thing on the list one would want to come in contact with, well, apart from the acid rain that is, haa haa haa.

So the permanent overhead protection would be very welcome in deed :)

Little Gym time :)

Dear Marcella,

The down pour started early yesterday, by twelve forty five you could have drown by just walking to the local store, lol. So off we went for your weekly exercise at Little Gym, usually I would just drop you off and head home, but yesterday was raining so hard, there was no way I was going to let you and your auntie fight your way through the rain just to get to a taxi.

So I hung around, bought a new pair of socks and joined your class (socks were mandatory), Little Gym is more physical than Gymboree, well, nothing unexpected there :) and for me lots more entertaining, haa haa haa. To have seen you jumped, climbed, rolled, tumbled, pushed, fell, ran, flipped, stretched plus loads and loads of laughter was an hour well spent, haa haa haa.

Water of Life :)

Dear Matt,

This side of half term performance was ‘Water of Life’ (happened yesterday), the whole of EY2 were involved, each class had to perform their own set, but the whole story tied each performance together, into one coherent jumble of joy, haa haa haa.

You, of course were excellent (as were all your friends too), hee hee, you gave it your all again, shouting seems to be your thing so please remind me not to buy a karaoke machine for you, ever :) Apparently this was the first time any of you have performed on stage, it must have been daunting to have all those eyes staring at you all :) but all of you performed brilliantly.

The theme for your class (EY2CF) was Sailing on the sea (or something along that line :p), so all of you were dressed as sailors, great costume (thanks to Paula, ‘leader’ of the parents for our class), she even wanted to get you all a hat each, but couldn’t find any suitable ones, and if she couldn’t find any, no one can :)

Your class performance starts with you announcing ‘All abroad the big ship’… haa haa haa, it was loud enough your long lost second cousin in China of the fifth parallel universe could have heard you loud and clear :)

I am not comfortable posting pictures of your friends, it wouldn’t be right without your friends’ parents permission :) so here is just the one of you. All I wanted was a smile… and all I got was ‘it’s going to be ‘sticking out my tongue’ kind of a morning, Dad’, lol.

Just add water… Instant Traffic

Dear Matt and Marcella,

Today’s society is really all about convenience at speed, lol, all that was thrown out of the window this evening with the arrival of the first proper down pour :)

I was stuck on a bus, now a non air-con thai bus in the rain means all windows were closed, no ventilation, add to this shoulder to shoulder sardine scenario and sprinkle it with unbearable humidity… worst of all a journey that usually took 20 minutes on a good day became 2 hours this evening. I’d just imagine I was in a sauna, lol.

These three photos were taken at one cross road in Siam (it was already around eight o’clock), looks like a long night ahead for most of them… been there, done that and trust me, not a very pretty experience.