Ouch! My Finger ...

The middle finger didn't seem to have much use to me - except to show rude gestures - until yesterday afternoon. I was clumsy enough to have it slammed by my car door! Usually these things happen when you're in a hurry. But I wasn't. In fact, I arrived half an hour earlier at the kids' school to pick them up before the school bell went off.

Anyway, I opened the door to get out and slammed it before my left middle finger managed to get away. At first, it was just pure shock and no pain. Three seconds later, the pain shot through the finger and spread all over the hand. It started to throb badly. My heart too started pounding. And I started sweating. I took a look at the injured finger. Blood clot started to form under the nail. Luckily, the nail was not broken.

Gosh, it hurt like hell! It was just one freaking finger and it hurt like hell! I wanted to shout obscenities but there were other parents waiting nearby. So cursing was out. So I gritted my teeth and got back into the car, hoping the pain would subside as I sat still on the seat. It didn't. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse. The finger was so swollen and red it looked really ugly and vulgar.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture nice, soothing images. Didn't work either. When I opened them, everything looked ultra bright - like extremely overexposed pictures. It was weird really. The pain must have affected my optic nerves too. I was seeing stars! By then, my ears were burning too. And the pain still clawed on tenaciously. I'd always prided myself for being tough and thought I had a high threshold for pain. Now I know better. I'm just wimp. I can't imagine, nay, I don't want to imagine what it's like being bashed up or hurt in an accident. It would've been so much worse.

After about half an hour, I had to leave the car to get the kids. My vision had gone back to normal by then but the throbbing on the finger was still there. Somehow, I managed to carry some of the kids' stuff and get everyone in the car and drove back safely. But it was difficult doing house chores with one finger disabled. It was hard to think how one finger could slow you down so much. I managed (still a little tough, I guess) to clean up the kids and have dinner ready, though at much slower pace.

I didn't get to properly tend to my injured finger until the kids had gone to sleep. By then, the pain had subsided considerably. But looking at it, it would be quite some time before I can have my old finger back. No, the middle finger's task certainly is not only to show rude signs.

Kiasuism Aussie Style

You know how Malaysian and Singaporean parents are extremely kiasu when it comes to their children's education (and everything else in general, actually)? Well, kiasuism exists here too, but not in terms of academic performance, apparently.

To be fair, all parents want their kids to do well in school. But few local Australian parents would take the trouble to send their kids to tuition classes after school. This is something prevalent only among Asian migrant families. Yep, they load their kids with extra homework because there's virtually no homework for kids below Year 3.

On the other extreme end, there are ridiculous proposals by some very misguided parents to ban homework because they claim homework should be done at school under the supervision of the teacher. Beats me. I don't know how on Earth some of these parents justify that kind of thinking but this is not the minority speaking. This kind of lobbying has been going on for some time it seems.

Anyway, back to the topic of kiasuism. The folks here take socialising and sports very seriously. Most kids will go to their friends' houses after school once or twice a week - just to play, not to do homework together. Joshua has been going to his friends' house regularly and Joanne has invited her friends too. That's fine actually.

But what boggles me is how some parents arrange their kids' week according to the kind of sport they get involved in - Monday (Swimming), Tuesday (Soccer), Wednesday (Tennis), Thursday (Footy), Friday (Cricket) - you get the drift. And then they protest when there's homework for the kids because their kids' week is already packed!

Don't get me wrong. Sports are good. I wish Joshua would show more interest in them but he's happy just being the spectator, not the player. But don't you think too many sports may not be that great? How does a kid stay focused?

And then there's the thing with birthday parties. They are BIG here. And I get worried every time the kids receive an invitation (once a month at least). The parents seem very preoccupied with outdoing one another in the form of lavish parties. The parties usually come with a theme, sometimes with clowns-cum-magicians to keep the kids amused. Some are held in fancy venues. And of course, the host is expected to hand out goodie bags before the guests leave. I must say, some of the parties are really cool - more the reason for me not to hold any birthday parties for I'll never be able to live up to their standards here!

Honestly, I dread the day Joshua and Joanne start demanding to have their own birthday parties. I have been coughing up lots of excuses. I'm not sure for how much longer they'll buy those, though. Maybe I'll have something for them when they turn 18 ...

A Walk In The Cemetery

I'm a big fan of cemeteries. Don't know why. Not that I want to take up residence in one of those places anytime soon. I'm not ready for that just yet. But this morbid fascination with final resting places of the dead has been a part of me for as long as I've lived. I always get excited whenever I drive past a cemetery. And you know what - the older they are, the more fascinating they are for me.

My fixation with them, however, ends with just enjoying their view. I don't crave spending a night alone in a cemetery, nor do I have any interest in communicating with the dead. I just enjoy looking at gravestones. Period.

And last week, I had the privilege of exploring the Burwood General Cemetery. I didn't plan the trip, though I've been toying with the idea of dropping by the Kew Cemetery not too far from my place. I sort of stumbled on the former while I was sent by Alex to fix his rear sensor monitor which was damaged when some scumbag mistook it for a GPS navigator and tried to yank it off the dashboard after smashing the window. So I drove the car to the workshop to have it fixed.

It took an hour for the job to be done. So the guy at the shop suggested that I have coffee and read some newspaper at a coffeeshop down the road. I did. But something else caught my eye - structures that looked like tombstones across the road.

Lo and behold! It was a cemetery. The coffeeshop was completely forgotten. I crossed the road and savoured the sight that awaited me. It looked more like a park than a graveyard! Some of the graves were so beautifully constructed and adorned with fresh flowers. A few even had mini showcases displaying favourite personal items of the deceased. Some housed the entire family! And I found one very old headstone dated back to 1866!

I explored from one end of the cemetery to the other. I only saw one other couple and an old lady visiting graves of their relatives. It was quiet and very peaceful. When I've covered the entire cemetery, I decided to finish reading a book that I'd been reading. I couldn't find a bench, so I settled for a tombstone under a tree and spent the next half an hour there. I bet the spirit residing there must have been pleased with my company.

After more than an hour there, I had to go back to the workshop for my car. But it certainly was an hour well spent, at least for me!