Curled up in the House

Was helping ethan mummy with her flea market stall some weeks back, at House in Dempsey Road. Caught a shot of tired lil' ethan curled up asleep on the couch, totally oblivious to the thumping music spun by the DJ nearby...lil' ethan adapted well that day. If not, ethan mummy would not have survived!

listen to the rhythm 2

A few days before the youth concert, one of the five 13-year-old boys called me to ask what he was supposed to wear for the drum performance. They had all agreed to wear all black.

S: Ms D, I don't have black pants.

Me: Hmm...What's your darkest coloured pants?

S: Peach.

Me (trying to control my laughter): PEACH? [trying to prevent myself from asking who in the world wears peach pants] *cough* eh...what do you mean by peach ah?

S (pausing for some time to think): You know, like milk chocolate?

Me (suppressing my laughter even more): Milk chocolate is dark brown right?

S (very serious): Nono, it's lighter than dark brown!

Me: Ermm... you don't have other colours???

S: Got. I got one blue one. But Ms D, it's shiny.

Me: !!!!!! Eh.. how come your pants all so special one???

S: Aiya, it's like sky blue lah. Can or not???

Me: I think you wear your milk chocolate pants better lah...

Thank goodness he found some decent grey cargoes the next day! :)

listen to the rhythm

The Rhythm Kiozk boys put up a great drum performance during the youth concert on Saturday night. So proud of them :) I've witnessed first-hand the wonders of stress and intimidation. The bunch of 5 boys, all 13 years old only, were really intimidated by the stylo mylo older bands present. They were so scared that they ran back into the dressing room when they saw the bigger boys approaching. So funny! Then they started to practise their drums for the next 8 hours, pausing only to play the fool (read: hiding in cupboards, switching off all the lights to scare people and looking for other 13-year-old girls to bioh...sigh...boys will be boys...) This was the first time I saw them take the performance so seriously... they just banged and banged on the drums throughout the day.

Thank goodness my colleague brought UNO cards (meant to entertain bored social workers who turned out to be very busy instead) and the boys gave my eardrums a break from more drumming by playing the cards. Thanks to my sporting colleagues who cheered, clapped and whistled when the boys performed, cos they really responded to the support through their playing! :)

who

When I'm tired, I get Delirious?
Delirious is good, cos I do crazy things - on a whim.
Then I dream, and it seems so real, so right.
And I always give it a warped twist.
Then I wake up with my heart beating so fast.
Will I get a reply?
I should just stop clicking the receive button.
I should just wait.
Wait on the Lord.
Please rest.

kairos

I was thinking...
If I were still a journo, this would be my fifth year as one.
If I had been a social worker from the start, this would be my fifth year too.
(It has now been one year eight months. How time flies.)
And maybe, I would even be given the title senior social worker too.
I guess it's kinda how I'm a few years behind others, yet I'm behind for a reason. I have a good honours degree, a graduate diploma, but I'm still behind in some ways.
Thinking about it makes it sucky sometimes, and I wish I could say, it's all worth it. But that would be so fake.
So how should I put it?
Yeah, I should embrace The Present Moment.
The mini-kairos is rich and complex. And I need to appreciate it.
If I follow chronos, The Present Moment would fly past so fast it would be depleted and totally consumed.
I have to embrace The Present Moment, for all it's worth. And in all aspects.

I feel like a government ministry (and I can't draw Spidey)

I've never been a good multi-tasker, but the last two weeks have called for tonnes of multi-tasking. My brain has effectively been split into so many departments I feel like a government ministry.

I've been rushing to complete session plans for Nov's groupwork, prepare for three presentations (2 with colleagues, 1 with parents), conduct counselling, type case reports, type reports for the courts, arrange for drumming for the boys, coordinate stuff with the volunteers (the kayaking fell through, so sad), count stats for the school... Basically, I've been worrying about all things in limbo. Yes, in limbo, that's the catchphrase of the week. Thank goodness the parents support group is over, but now I have to worry about buying transparent umbrellas for the groupwork (we're trying to inject creative arts therapy this time, which will be fun!) Let's hope Daiso has enough for us!

And now, I'm trying to breathe. Literally.

Am I glad that in this flurry of activities, I couldn't draw Spidey. I couldn't draw Spidey, and the 14-year-old boy laughed. Like laughed real hard, and I laughed real hard too. Spidey was my gift to him, a clumsy gift that I drew for him, at the end of our therapeutic conversation. Thank you for your laughter, A. I really appreciated it.