Singapore Short Stories - Ah Meng's Naming

Ah Meng is somewhat of a local celebrity. She's an orang utan in the Singapore Zoological Gardens and entertains tourists occasionally by having breakfast with them. Someone asked me why is she given a boy's name...well, here's the story.
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According to the Kin Jio Leaf, Ah Meng came into this world on 18 June 1960. She was actually kept as a pet illegally until 1971 when the Khirsah and Council then found her. They abish abish the owner until he look like a baboon's behind. Years later, when Harrison became the CEO, we gave Ah Meng to Harrison for safekeeping in the zoo.

Harrison had this wonderful idea of "Breakfast With An Orang Utan" program and consulted us. We also have our hidden agenda and so we agreed. However, we had this big problem... the full name of Ah Meng is AhBuCeDarElleFarGoHaInJerKinLiMeng. It means "The Beautiful One" in our language. Harrison couldn't pronounce it so he named it "Ah Meng" for short...which means "The Beast" in our language.

Of course Ah Meng not happy lor and she give Harrison the finger whenever she saw him. (Harrison claimed that Ah Meng's dislike of him had something to do with that time someone wanted to make a documentary and Ah Meng avoided the camera by climbing up a tree. Harrison coaxed her to come down but eventaully she fell down and injured her arm. So from then on, she don't like him )
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The above short story was written some time ago but somehow was not posted here. Just got to find out that Ah Meng passed away (CNA news). Breakfast will never be the same in the zoo.

If you like to find out more about Ah Meng, go here.

Spot The Seahorses

A diving friend snapped some pictures of seahorse. Kinda cute.

Talking about seahorses... do you know that the eggs of seahorses are kept by the papa seahorses? That is, it is the papa seahorse that get pregnant... not the mama seahorse....

See if you can spot the seahorses. I could... ... but cannot now... ... hmmm, wonder where are the seahorses... ... keep a look out for the eyes... that's what my friend says...

The Best Birthday Gift

I have been receiving birthday gifts but non is as special as this card. It is made by my daughter, Trixie. Did I say I am very proud of her? Nothing beats a simple card that is original and comes with sincerity. Not only did she give me a card, she called to wish me a happy birthday.

My Son, Tate

Woohooo! First, I must thank wifey for having to carry our new born son, Tate for the last nine months. He's a healthy, not-so-little guy weighing slightly more than 3.7kg at birth!

Not any less lovable than our first child (Trixie), Tate's coming to this world brings a special significance to my family. If you've read my previous post, my father passed away late last year. What most of you do not know is that, exactly 3 weeks after my father's death, my brother joined him. No one knows what made my brother take his own life but apparently he was suffering from depression, something which we suspected but didn't know it was that serious. It was a very, very difficult period for my family. So when wifey and I came to know that Tate is akan datang, I wasted no time to spread the good news to my mum and the rest of the family. BTW, Tate's arrival was not planned... at least not by us, so I'd thought there must be someone out there watching over us and present this gift to us.

OK, so much for the sombre part. Let's move forward to the more positive outlook in life... Wifey and I felt that his name should start with a letter T like his sister, Trixie. Did a search for meaningful boys names starting with the letter T and my oh my, the names are limited. Eventually we filtered down to two - Tate and Theodore. Personally, I preferred Theodore which originates from Greek meaning "God's gift". Wifey preferred Tate which is of English origin meaning "Cheerful". Each of these names have different variations like Tait, Taitte, Tayte for Tate and Ted, Theo, Theodorus for Theodore. Eventually, I relented and agreed on Tate. Theodore may be a bit of a tongue twister for our non-native English speaking families. Besides that, the name Tate is more related to Trixie which means "Bringer of joy".

During gestation, Tate is unlike his sister who is more placid. Right from the end of the 1st trimester, his movement can be felt and he moved alot through the rest of the pregnancy. I wonder if he aspires to be a gymnast. Besides that, wifey felt contractions very often too. When wifey was carrying Trixie, the only time she felt ONE contraction (and a relatively mild one) was when she was waiting in the delivery ward for the hospital staff to prepare the operations theatre. With Tate, it was a totally different matter. I just hope we can educate Tate to be as well behaved as his sister.

Also, Tate grows fast. Last weekend when we were shopping, people gave obvious about their stares when they look at wifey. One even remarked, "Wow! So big!" 3 days back when wifey went for her medical appointment, Tate's estimated weight was 3.4kg!

Last morning, when the amniotic fluid started to flow out (one of the signs that the baby is about to come out), we grabbed the bag and hailed a cab. The driver is a nice chap and told us that he'll go slow for a smooth and safe ride to the hospital. Wifey said something that made him promptly floored the accelerator, beat a red light and almost did a drift. I had to harmonize the speed correcting that he need not go THAT fast and added that we didn't want him to be booked by the traffic police. He laughed it off saying it's alright. If TP did notice, he would explain the situation and we might get a free escort to open the traffic ahead for us. We reached the hospital safely anyway.

Everything went through smoothly and Tate is delivered after a C-Section and this time, I am not suffering from shingles and managed to be in the ops theatre with wifey and Tate the moment he is born. Tomorrow will be another day where we'll have to jia you cos there'll be many years ahead of us.



For those of you who do not know what's a C-Section (Cesarean Section), follow this link to watch the video clip of how babies can be born. (Warning: It can be gory and upsetting to some)

And You Think Only Blondes Are Stupid?

I was reading Mr Brown's blog when I came across this. Couldn't help laughing, especially the reactions from the boy. Then I went into Youtube and did a search by typing "stupid"... guess what I found there. I am really surprised by the answers given by the Americans.