Playing the Guitar

5 years ago, Jas wanted to learn to play the guitar so I enrolled him into Yamaha School to learn classical guitar with a friend of his.

 Months later, he wanted to play acoustic guitar with an amplifier so we bought him a simple set to start him off. To-date, he still likes this guitar very much and many of his friends have played on it and lik it too.

A year or two later, he wanted to learn the electric guitar. He learned to play it from friends and thro' the YouTube ( BTW, I think you can learned anything from the Internet... if you know how to search for it....!).

However, I was not not inclined to buy him an expensive electric guitar as I do not know how serious he was then. But I explained to him that he should start with a entry level electric guitar first and then when he knows it better ... then he can upgrade and buy a better one.

So my philosophy is to start it easy and not go for the best as your interest may not be there and importantly, you do not really know what to buy. Part of the fun is going for upgrades..... right?

Unlike a friend of ours, who bought an expensive electric guitar for his son against my advice, and  he is hardly playing it now.

Jas started to get better from playing with friends and going to jam in the studios. We also upgraded his small amplifier to a bigger one for his birthday and a few friends even contributed to it too.

I also let him take some drum lessons too as it was recommended to him so as to get his tempo or rhythm better. So it went on for a few terms too.

His guitar has been upgraded ( change to a better pickup etc.... recommended by his friend ) and recently no sound came out of it. But the estimated epair cost was more than 50% of the guitar price so I felt that it was not worthwhile to repair this old guitar.

Since he is now confirmed that it is something that he likes and wants to pursue further, we decided to let him buy a better guitar and advance it as his Poly graduation present due next year.

Jas just made his debut in playing for a band during his Poly CCA Showcase 2012, here is a video of the 2nd song that the band played ans he played a bit of solo later in the song. We were invited to see his perform and we are really proud of his achievement in his guitar playing.



BTW, during my time, playing in a band is look upon badly.... long hair, tatooed, drugs, etc.....
But not today or this generation, even my friend's daughter is playing the electric guitar around the same time as Jas.

Dengue Fever

The new year started with Jason having quite a bad sore throat and he recovered from it after taking some antibiotics for 5 days.

After a few days, he came down with fever and it happened to be Friday the 13th morning ....a coincidence ?

He had a very high fever, hitting 39.2 C and hovering in the 38 C range. Even after sponging him with wet towels and asking him to take a shower, the fever refused to come down. So after dinner, we decided to return to the clinic but it was closed so we went to a 7x24 clinic instead. They could not find anything wrong and the medication given seems correct so we went home.

That night, his temperature continued to hover between 38 and 39 C and he shivered quite badly when I sponged him with a few wet towels, a few times. Eventually, I gave up as I was too tired from lack of sleep... around 4am.

On Sat morning, I called the clinic and after discussing with the GP his condition and also the fact that there was at least once case of dengue fever in our area, I took Jas to the hospital lab to test for dengue fever.

After 2 hours of waiting, the GP called me and that Jas indeed has dengue fever but his blood count was still within range but at the lower end, borderline... at 156!

The GP actually was quite sure that it is not dengue fever as typically, it does not come with a sore throat and cough but just high fever only.

But I was not comfortable with it and I know that Jas normally would have a day of fever only and not as high as 38C and above so I was more concerned than ever.

I am glad that the GP realised my anxiousness and offered me the option of doing 3 blood tests; one for dengue fever, another for the blood count and another to identify if the fever is caused by bacteria or virus ( antibiotics can treat bacteria fever but not a virus fever and you have to ride it out ).

Now, we know what we are dealing with and able to handle it better and not second guess on what could be happening.

My advice to you is that you must know your children well to be able to spot any unusual deviation and then pursue the matter accordingly.

After confirming my son's dengue fever, we shared the news with our neighbours so that they could take some precaution as it is so near to them ( eg spray Shelltox and put on mossie repellant ). One of them called me for more info as their son has been having a fever and other complications like mouth ulcers for almost 7 days but the Dr did not think it is dengue fever. I suggest that they take him for a blood test to either rule it out or confirm that it is indeed dengue fever. It was confirmed that the son had dengue fever after the blood test.

It was painful to see my son shivered when I sponged him but once we knew it was dengue fever, we were able to handle the situation better and not worry unnecessary.

BTW, one concern I had was whether he could have some form of brain damage for having such a high temperature of 39C and above. The Dr assured me that it is quite safe as he is much older unlike if he is a baby or much younger. So this info was a big relief to all of us and I can sleep in peace even when he was still running a fever.

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year in 2012

Our family photo taken with Jack, our beagle, too this year in front of our small xmas tree.

I wish that the new year will be a healthier and safer year for all of us.

Besides my parents and mum-in-law being sick during the 2nd half of 2011, Jason twisted his right knee and had to undergo a full ACL Reconstruction surgery and still having physiotherapy sessions now as part of his recovery.

You can read more about it at this blog as I wanted to share the experience that I went through. It was a bit difficult to find some information from local sources.

http://twistedkneetornacl.blogspot.com/

I have not been updating my blogs as often as I would like to  as I was so busy caring for my aged parents and Jason's knee recovery too.

Anyway, I wish you good health and some wealth too in this new year.

My Teenager Son

Hi,

Jason turned 18 recently and visited a Pub with his friends though he told me that he does not like to drink.

He also told me that some of his friends smoke and some of them drink too.

Initially, I was shocked but then I also realised that I also have friends that smoke or drink and some smoke and drink too so I suppose as long as he knows what he is doing with his friends and not get into trouble, so be it.

Lately, he has been going out a lot with his friends and also staying overnight at one of his friends home.

While he sort of asks me for permission... I find it difficult to say 'NO' but I am not happy with it though.

I suppose it is a phase where he spends more time with his friends and I miss him.....sigh

I told my wife that we will be seeing lesser and lesser of him though we say that weekends are for family time as he is having more activities or outings on Sat and we only have Sun to catch up with him.

But he sleeps in on Sun all the time so easily half a day gone and we only have dinner together.

I guess I have to get used to it.

I really miss the boy that used to let me hug and kiss him including holding his hand where we go out together.

David

Chinese New Year - Traditions

We wish our Chinese friends a very Happy & Prosperous

Chinese New Year !

Traditions are important and we, as parents, should teach them to our kids though it is getting more challenging as even ourselves have lost some of the practices in this modern society.

I told Jason that reunion dinner or lunch and the visiting of the elders in the family on the 1st day of Chinese New Year are mandatory.

So he is told not to make any appointments with his friends on such occassions; eg he would typically has some school activities on Saturdays but we were having our reunion lunch a week earlier at my mum-in-law home, so I gave him ample notice to be present and it is not negotiable.

I am glad that he appreciates the tradition and even learned to greet his grandparents in Cantonese.

I was disappointed that one of his cousins did not attend the reunion lunch and I was given to understand that he went out with his friends instead.

Well, I do not blame the tennage boy but hold his parents responsible instead. It is sad indeed as the boys can to see each other like once a year only!

Similarly, I have make it a habit to take a family photo on the first day of Chinese New Year at home before we go visiting. After all, we are all dressed in new clothing and looking at our very best so it is a perfect occassion to ahve a family photo taken indeed.

Sad to say, many of my adult relatives are camera shy and do not want their photo taken during reunion dinner and when we meet on the 1st day of Chinese New Year.

What a pity!

If the adults do not co-operate how do we expect their children to do so.

Fortunately, Jason managed to catch up with 2 of his cousins and they consented to have a photo taken together, as shown below.