Tip 145: Forming an impression on art

Haruka is still too young to appreciate art. She can already hold the colour pencil or pen and draw many lines on a piece of paper. However, she does not know that the drawing can be a beautiful artwork, or does not have a mental picture of an art she wants to draw, or whether the paintings in the art museum are any different from the DVD cover of Barney & Friends (Haruka's favorite). But, that does not mean she cannot be exposed to understand art.

If Haruka could learn to talk through observation, and not show it immediately, but later surprise us of what she has learnt (2 different languages!), I believe my visits to the museums are not in vain. Besides, daddy and mummy also want to visit these museums. And fortunately, they allow babies to the museums/galleries. We unfortunately could not attend any musical performances or concerts, as babies/little children are not allowed and we could not find any babysitter abroad. Such is the sacrifice of parents. Yet, we did enjoy the places we could go and hope Haruka would gain from this early exposure to art.

My visits to the art museum taught me much since I read little previously about art history over different periods. The Malaysian education system taught nothing about impressionism, post-impressionism or neo-impressionism. Its amazing how art demonstrates new expressions of thought and creativity over time. Its even more amazing how a baby can interprete pictures of animals and identify the real animals when they see them. I now wonder if Haruka developed any impression of art at the museum. She did enjoy roaming around the galleries to catch glimpses of animals on paintings. Probably the next helpful art education is have Haruka watch a painter draw a portrait of a person or scenery. She has seen me draw many times with a pen, but not seen someone draw with paint. Probably I can do that myself - if mummy permits a messy affair with the paint brush.

When do toddlers learn to draw/paint/develop art based on their impression of art?

(Photos show Whistler's Mother, Thomas Couture's Romans during the Decadence and Georges Seurat's The Circus, a Neo-Impressionist art at the Musee D'Orsay, Paris. Mona Lisa at the Louvre, Paris.

A large painting at

the Victoria and Albert Museum, London an

d Vincent Van Gogh's Vase with 15 Sunflowers at the National Gallery, London. By the way, all museums above are free as I entered them on

the free admission day and

while museums in Paris allow cameras, the museums in London do not).

Tip 144: Restaurant table toys to keep occupied

Haruka is at an age where she will be restless when we are at a restaurant. Especially when she is in a bad mood, she is hungry or she does not feel comfortable. If she has just enjoyed herself before going to the restaurant, probably she could sit tight for 5 minutes for the food to arrive. Most of the time, that does not happen.

So, what keeps her occupied? My digital camera where I store her sing-along playcenter videos with her face on it, photos of her with panda and other photos. Its small and compact and easy to bring. Sometimes, I use my cellphone as well that can store photos and video.

What else do you parents use to keep a 1 year old toddler occupied? They are at an age where they do not have the attention span to play with a Transformer robot toy, toy cars or speak to their dolls/teddy bear.

(Photos show Palais-Royal and Place Des Voges, both with beautiful gardens in Paris).

Tip 143: Remember your Creator in the days of your youth

I do not make mention of God enough in all my blogpost. In fact, there maybe too many hints of pride and boasting of my achievements. Words can sometimes not express accurately the pregnant feelings, emotions and gratitude of a heart. There is no doubt the pride and joy of a daddy in my blogging, with of course, a little pinch of opinion and idealistic thinking as well. In actual fact, I owe everything to the grace of God and others. Everyone have been kind to me throughout my journey. And I believe all this is made possible through the many opportunities God has blessed me with. In order, for this to continue, I always pray that I will never forget the goodness of God, but to remember Him always. While we could do many things for God and make many vows and commitments, the most important of all is to remember that God is the center of all good things we enjoy. We need to remember the awesome acts of God, as well as the daily provisions, simple and basic as they are. Remembering and acknowledging them are the foundations of a good relationship with God. And that starts young. Or at least, while we could remember every good thing from the beginning to remember God for. Thereby, starts the pattern of God's blessing on those who remembers Him.















The author of the scripture text of this blog title, probably Solomon, wrote these words of wisdom at the end of his life after reflecting that life only has value when we remember God. All other things will fade away. But, there is so much purpose when we can delight ourselves in the knowledge that we belong to God and that God's love for us is eternal and unchanging. Yet, that starts when we come to the humbling realization that there must be a Creator and if the Creator is the God who loves humanity as depicted in the bible, I want to acknowledge Him, know Him and remember any good He will be doing for me. It does not require a supernatural ability to be religious, perfect or holy to do that. Just a sense of remorse and humility that we are in need of our Creator. That sense came to me when I was 12, as I realized there must be a God who created everything. I was further touched that despite His supremacy, God loved and I felt his love and wanted it. After that fateful day, of telling God that I want to know Him more and wanted Him to guide my life, slowly things began to change. I received more responsibilities in school and received more expectations to show a good testimony of being a Christian. Every step of that journey, I did not fail to remember God and God was pleased with me until a climatic encounter when God tested me if I would commit my life to Him to serve Him as a Christian Fellowship president. In a tug of war between having more time for my studies, I gave to God my time, the little I had. Yet, God did not want to take from me, as He only wanted to know the contents of my heart and if I loved Him and remembered Him. That day onwards, I knew for sure that God took care of me, even at certain times, He was teaching me to be patient in rough times. I am still far from being a "good Christian", but I know that God is real and loves me. And this was established when I was young.














Do we remember God enough? Fortunately, God judges us by knowing our heart in the midst of our circumstances and weaknesses. God is good and compassionate all the time.





























(Photos show Sacre-Coeur on high grounds and St Augustin seen afar from the Obelisque, Paris).

Tip 142: Sniffing the beauty of flowers

As I recall the first few words Haruka learnt, one of them was hana flower (yes she could say it in both English and Japanese). Whenever we go anywhere, besides being excited about seeing animals and calling them, she would see flowers whenever we walked on the streets or shopping complex and point and say hana or flower and smile at me. If she says flower, I would say hana and smile back to her.

The reason there is so much communication and interaction when I am with Haruka is because I carry her most of the time and she is just below my chin. She could easily talk to me or look up and know she can be heard. When she started walking, I would put her down whenever I know she likes the surrounding. That's when she started to appreciate flowers more at a closer distance. I did encourage her at the beginning to sniff the flowers. The fresh scent of flowers! Yes, that's much better than artificial toys at the toy shop.

Colourful flowers at a garden or park can stir cheerful feelings. Its probably even more apt for a girl to develop a liking for flowers and natural beauty at a young age to stir sentimental feelings. I am a person always out for action and the desire to accomplish something each day, yet I believe its necessary at times to be quiet and mull on sentimental feelings, as its helpful for reflection and a change of pace for anyone.

Have you let your child roam the gardens for flowers? Try it. The simple pleasures of life are sometimes the most beautiful

(Photos show Haruka at the Green Park, London and at the park at Blenheim Palace).

Tip 141: Bank and credit card account abroad

I wrote previously about openning a multi currency account to take advantage of differring yields and growth rates from different countries. The volatility in the financial markets will see more opportunities for those who want to leverage on such volatility instead of be affected by them financially. We get affected when we have to transact in foreign currencies, either to pay an education expense, a home mortgage, a holiday trip, a purchase on the Internet. It may seem negligible at first, but if our transactions become more frequent or larger in quantity, the savings can be substantial. The myth that managing many different accounts can cost a lot of time and fees is not necessarily true nowadays. With internet banking and automated direct debit, foreign credit cards can be managed easily. Though, one must already set aside savings for each account so as not to micro manage them all the time. There is a need for vigilance when one deals with foreign currencies with such huge volatility, but with moderation, such action may actually be safer than inaction. Hence, its good to keep active a foreign account overseas even if you have stopped studying or working there.














When I left Hawaii after completing my MBA 4 years ago, I left my USA bank account active and now look back and enjoy the benefits of it. Whenever I get small online income or even consulting revenue in US dollars, I need not wire the amount to a foreign bank account and incur fees and exchange rate losses, but can keep them at my USD account. When the currency exchange rates are favorable, then I make the transfers thereby controlling the value I get. Also, I take joy in using this USD account to give to meet the needs of my aunt, a missionary and have witnessed how God replenishes the account constantly out of my control. Handling various accounts in foreign currency does require one to keep abreast of happenings that would affect currencies so one can attempt to make the best currency exchanges. For instance, the recent North Korean defiance on its nuclear weapon initiatives have resulted in the US dollar strengthening temporarily over other currencies which can be used for one's advantage. Most banks abroad do not do like Malaysian banks do to charge RM10 every 6 months if your account is dormant. Hence, I find it more beneficial to keep the bank accounts active as there will be more foreign currency transactions by anyone in the future as the effects of globalization takes place.















I do agree I sometimes get myself handling too many things/accounts at one time and others may have different preferences, but do share your views.















(Photos show Haruka at Rue Montorgueil, a street lined with patisseries yet taking time to greet Bonjour to a dog, St Paul's church, Sainte-Chapelle, Saint-Jacques Tower and Place de la Bastille).

Tip 140: A diet of raw fish for long life

I am blessed to be able to take my vacations at my inlaw's place in Ishigaki island, Okinawa. It is 2 flights away from Tokyo, a 2.5 hour flight from Tokyo to the main Okinawa island and another 1 hour flight from Okinawa to Ishigaki island, far south of Japan. Here I can relax and enjoy good food cooked by my mother in law who was a cook previously. During the day time when I am not already burn by the sun, I would explore the different beaches to scout for beautiful sea shells. One day, I hope to display my shell collections on glass floors in a future house I plan to settle down at ... probably not so near in the future.

My father in law is a fisherman and owns an old boat he uses to fish as a hobby nowadays. Whatever he catches will be improvised as meals for the family. It could be small colourful fishes to larger tunas (called maguro in Japanese), squid and prawns. And all these can be eaten as sashimi. Even fresh after a catch, my father in law would eat them raw with vinegar and lime on his boat if he is hungry or just to test the freshness of the fish. Could this be the secret of longetivity in Okinawa, the prefecture with the highest number of centenarians? Check out also my post on the high intake of grain and miso.

I used to be a little vary to eat raw food. When eating raw eggs cooked in sukiyaki, I will mix them longer in the hot pot. For sushi and sashimi, I will ensure they are well marinated with wasabi and would bear the tingling hot sensation with the hope that the wasabi will kill the harmful bacteria and parasites lingering in the raw food. As raw fish began to form more of my diet, I began to appreciate the fresh taste and realized it was more a mental challenge of my preconceived idea of raw food than a physical challenge for my body to interact with the bacteria and gain from it instead. In fact, there is now a lifestyle called raw foodism that promote a diet fully on raw food and argue that cooking would destroy enzymes and vitamins present in raw food that are necessary for better digestion and also to reduce the amount of free radicals that could cause cancer. It feels uneasy at the beginning, but as you taste the freshness more and more, your body would agree with your mind that you are on the right path to longetivity. Try it. Nothing tastes better than fresh sashimi from a good breed of tuna.

What are your thoughts on raw food and sashimi? They could be my initial fears too. Share it. Its when we vocalize, we attempt one step closer to overcome our fears.















(Photos show my first catch of a tiny fish at my father in law's boat for 4 hours under the sun, photos of 4 month old Haruka at a previous trip to Ishigaki, Haruka at the recent trip at time of blogging at the Okinawa airport and at the Shiroma home, attempting only brown rice despite being served sashimi and tempura, and 4 month old Haruka with the Shiroma family together with my niece).