Satisfied* - Jewel

I went to watch Pacific Rim this week. I had a great sense of satisfaction after the movie!!! =)

I know people will talk about how bad it was - i have a friend who said she just wanted to run out of the cinema. Sure, it is predictable - and the story-line is a rip-off from The Avengers!!!

But the question i wanted to ask those who are complaining is what is it they expected when they went to watch Pacific Rim? Do people go to watch Pacific Rim for the story-line? For the acting? For the message that it preaches? For something to intellectually challenge themselves? If yes, i really dun know what to say about these people (without sounding offensive...).

Well, for me, i go to watch Pacific Rim to see giant robots fighting giant monsters!!! heck, even their tagline is "To fight monsters, we created monsters"!!!

And i got EXACTLY what i wanted!!! Big huge robots fighting big huge monsters!!!

You should have seen me the next day at office - my colleagues were super amused to see me rattle off about the movie like a small boy all excited over a robot movie!!!

Sure there were humans involved too... but i did not go to watch them!!!

If you look hard enough, you can see there are humans!!!

Having said that, i thought IdrisElba was pretty good IMHO! Rinko was nice to look at - and Ron Perlman was his usual watchable self!!!

I want my Pacific Rim toy NOW!!!!!!!!

*Her second single from her brilliant Sweet and Wild country album, it was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.

Yellow* - Coldplay

It has been more than 2 months - just a few days after the 60 day mark. We thank God that Shona has been generally well and healthy!

The biggest scare for us was her prolonged jaundice episode. When she was yellow. Not Simpsons yellow but it was pretty bad.

We were prepared for it. Deep down, i was hoping that she will be spared of it - but she was not. When it happened, we just prayed that it will be just like the normal jaundice cases. A lot of people were saying that "all" babies have it these days. Do not know how true is that statement - but perhaps it was not meant literally.

When her condition did not improve, we were advised by the clinic doctor to send her to the General Hospital to put Shona under the UV light for a while. We did.

"Chop"!!!! So Malaysian!!!

Having dinner in the corridor of the ward

Being the public hospital around, i think they weren't too keen to keep Shona around for long taking up a lamp - they would rather use it for more needy cases. In any event, we were glad that they thought Shona could go home.

But her condition did not improve that much. We took her back for her usual clinic check-up and were told her situation is not very good - kinda contradicting what the hospital doctor said!

 

The place where blood was drawn :(

But at the end of the day, we could see that Shona really wasn't her usual self. So we decided to check her into the private hospital and pay for a few nights there.

 We spent a couple of nights there until she showed signs of improvement.

The story did not end there, tho. She did improve but then there was a relapse a few days later. It was close to a month and by right, any jaundice would have disappeared by now.

To be honest, i was really worried. On top of that, i had to go back in Subang - have to conduct classes. Before i left, we took her to the government clinic and they were very worried. They did a urine test and took more blood to be tested. It took a while but we finally got the urine tested and it was fine. We however had to wait a few days for the results of the blood test. It was only out after i have left.

When i was back in Subang and before the blood test results came out, Shona's condition did not improve and the wife got really worried. I tried to sound brave and strong and told the wife not to worry - while i was worried sick. I told her to just wait for one or two days more for the result of the blood test.

But in the end, the wife brought Shona to see the specialist. The doctor informed us that it was breast-milk jaundice - since she was being breast-fed, she had this sepcial kind of jaundice. At the end of the day, what was important was that the doctor said it was nothing to worry about and that Shona is and will be fine.

Sure enough, when Shona went to the govenrment clinic for her routine check-up, the blood test results showed that she was fine.

She is a brave girl, no doubt!!!

Quite a drama for us first time parents. We are truly thankful that she recovered fully from the jaundice and is now in the pink of health (literally and figuratively)! No more yellowness.

*My fav song of theirs. It also reminds me of a monologue my fren did when he purposely sang it out of tune!!!

Superman (It's not easy)* - Five for Fighting

I was one of the first few people who caught Man of Steel. I was really interested to see how it is.

I really so wanted to enjoy it too. After all, i was one of the few people that actually enjoyed Superman Returns (yes, i did!!! You can read about it here). Well, this was supposed to be better! Hey, i even wore red underwear to the cinema (and like the new Superman, i did not reveal it!!!).

My verdict? It was more Super-meh than Superman.

Sure there were some good point about the movie. I have blogged about it in my other blog and you can read about the good and the bad of the movie there.

On another note, i realise that watching movies cannot be the same again. It was the same realisation i had when i saw The Lion King musical for the second time when i was in London last year with the wife. It was a different experience, watching it as an expecting father.

The best part of Man of Steel to me was when his parents had to deal with sending him away. I found tears in my eyes as i know how painful it may have been. But it was the right thing to do - the best thing to do. Parents will do whatever it takes to protect their child, to ensure their child has a better future. Even if it means it comes with a great personal cost.

I guess the real Superman - and Superwoman - in the movie was Kal-El's parents. And i hope that i will be a Superman to my Shona too. It's not easy but by God's grace, i hope i can.

*Featured on a few TV series (Smallville was one of them, of course!) and nominated for a Grammy in 2002.