We adults often have memories of the children books from when we were children ourselves. While it may not be too soon for us to give up reading the Harry Potter series, they're just not as good as those books that were read during our childhood.
On the positive side, we are still drawn to books that have a nostalgic theme. The negative side, of course, may be that we're far behind the latest trend of children's storybooks. I simply worry if I am still as great at reading to my daughter as what I used to.
Gone are the good old days when I had regular story time with my younger sister. I'm sure I need to learn to tell Jasmine stories at bedtime. To brush up, I am reading You Can Write Children's Books. If there was one lesson learned from this book by Tracey Dils, it was this: crafting children's stories is never easier than writing for the adults.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Langkawi trip
One day after my confirming flight tickets and accommodation of our first venture with Jasmine to Japan, the country was smashed by nature's temper tantrum on 11 March.
We didn't cancel the holiday; we changed the destination. Our heads are round, as Francis Picabia reminds us, so that our thinking can change directions.
This is the first time we cleaned the cobwebs out of our suitcase since the arrival of Jasmine. Venturing out with Jasmine isn't the same as our erstwhile hiking trip at New Zealand's national park. The tote bag and suitcase were more packed this time. What did we bring? Paper towels, diapers, books, crayons and a pad, Barney sticker, and Thomas trains. Enough? Nope, not until we packed a backpack full of outrageous humour. When we learn to travel with a toddler, we learn to laugh when things go wrong - and they will. After going to our car to enjoy our Coca-Cola, we found ourselves all wet with the carbonated soft drink - splashing out from the can shaken by Jasmine.
"Oh," we laughed before we could telegraph our embarrassment to the world (or at least the backseat). "Many thanks to Jasmine, for preparing the surprise champagne celebration; this is mum and dad's wedding anniversary."
We didn't cancel the holiday; we changed the destination. Our heads are round, as Francis Picabia reminds us, so that our thinking can change directions.
This is the first time we cleaned the cobwebs out of our suitcase since the arrival of Jasmine. Venturing out with Jasmine isn't the same as our erstwhile hiking trip at New Zealand's national park. The tote bag and suitcase were more packed this time. What did we bring? Paper towels, diapers, books, crayons and a pad, Barney sticker, and Thomas trains. Enough? Nope, not until we packed a backpack full of outrageous humour. When we learn to travel with a toddler, we learn to laugh when things go wrong - and they will. After going to our car to enjoy our Coca-Cola, we found ourselves all wet with the carbonated soft drink - splashing out from the can shaken by Jasmine.
"Oh," we laughed before we could telegraph our embarrassment to the world (or at least the backseat). "Many thanks to Jasmine, for preparing the surprise champagne celebration; this is mum and dad's wedding anniversary."
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Adjective
If you think adjectives help to decorate a sentence, don't.
Most adjectives are unnecessary, as I learn from Roy Peter Clark and William Zinsser. Thanks to their teaching, I have pruned out the unnecessary words like passionate or enthusiastic or responsible to describe my interns when they ask me to write a referee letter.
Don't just tell people that Jonathan, for instance, is passionate. Show them. And, with that in mind, I wrote, "As every intern attests, it takes good patience to finish an electrocardiogram with our barely functioning machines. As is so often the case in our medical wards, interns frown whenever an electrocardiogram is ordered. Jonathan didn't. He solved the problem by purchasing ECG electrode adhesives out of his own pocket."
Now you see. That intern Jonathan really is passionate.
Most adjectives are unnecessary, as I learn from Roy Peter Clark and William Zinsser. Thanks to their teaching, I have pruned out the unnecessary words like passionate or enthusiastic or responsible to describe my interns when they ask me to write a referee letter.
Don't just tell people that Jonathan, for instance, is passionate. Show them. And, with that in mind, I wrote, "As every intern attests, it takes good patience to finish an electrocardiogram with our barely functioning machines. As is so often the case in our medical wards, interns frown whenever an electrocardiogram is ordered. Jonathan didn't. He solved the problem by purchasing ECG electrode adhesives out of his own pocket."
Now you see. That intern Jonathan really is passionate.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Periodic Table
When was the last time you studied the Periodic Table after the secondary school chemistry lesson? Or, frankly, any at all?
Hardly, if not because of the recent chaos about iodine and plutonium.
Once hailed as the "Law of Octaves," the elements were arranged by their atomic weight to repeat their patterns at every eighth place along a scale, like the octaves on a piano keyboard. The idea turned out to be widely mocked, and withered. It was not until 1869 when Dimitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev, a Russian chemist born in the far west of Siberia, came up with a novel way of organizing every atom in the universe. He nodded off while playing the card game solitaire (wherein cards are arranged by suit horizontally and by number vertically) one evening, and then woke up with a similar concept of organizing the atoms. The atoms simply line up in repeating groups of seven. In this sense, the Periodic Table shows one set of relationship when read up and down, and another when read side to side. Simple, and yet elegant.
Like most of the brilliant ideas, this one dawned on Mendeleyev after waking from his sleep. This type of sleep-enhanced inspiration is not new, and certainly not mine. My mentor also talked about his feelings of inspiration after sleep in his blog yesterday. And, yes, I should now take a nap.
Hardly, if not because of the recent chaos about iodine and plutonium.
Once hailed as the "Law of Octaves," the elements were arranged by their atomic weight to repeat their patterns at every eighth place along a scale, like the octaves on a piano keyboard. The idea turned out to be widely mocked, and withered. It was not until 1869 when Dimitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev, a Russian chemist born in the far west of Siberia, came up with a novel way of organizing every atom in the universe. He nodded off while playing the card game solitaire (wherein cards are arranged by suit horizontally and by number vertically) one evening, and then woke up with a similar concept of organizing the atoms. The atoms simply line up in repeating groups of seven. In this sense, the Periodic Table shows one set of relationship when read up and down, and another when read side to side. Simple, and yet elegant.
Like most of the brilliant ideas, this one dawned on Mendeleyev after waking from his sleep. This type of sleep-enhanced inspiration is not new, and certainly not mine. My mentor also talked about his feelings of inspiration after sleep in his blog yesterday. And, yes, I should now take a nap.
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