Oh My Handphone

I am a self-professed hand phone addict. I can spend hours looking at my hand phone and it is a huge problem simply because:

1. I have an active 16 month old child. You know the golden rule? Silence is not good when you have a toddler?
2. I work from home. More hand phone time equals to less work. Darn!
3. The house doesn't clean on its own.

I used to be the person who checks her handphone the moment I am up. Nowadays I don’t look at it (except to check what time is it) until about 10 am (I am up at 7am) and I think that it is a great achievement. But my happiness is short lived because then I am hooked on it from then on till well late at night.

The moment I sit in the car, I will check my hand phone for updates in the following order; WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. I take pride in being updated with the latest news (more like gossips especially in WhatsApp) and happenings. Then I realised that car rides have become rather silent (only punctuated by cries from the baby seat hater a.k.a Pebbles) and I was not stopping to smell the roses.

The Cricket World Cup is going on and Hubby is literally glued to the television from 8pm-2am every day. One day I told him ‘I wish I was the TV so you can look at me all the time’ rather scornfully and to which he cleverly replied, 'Well I wish I was your hand phone so you can LOOK at me all the time!’ I was taken aback at the remark. In actual truth, taken aback does not really justify how I felt, the Malay word ‘Tersentap’ sounds more like it.

So before I slept that night, I was mulling over what he said and shamefully, I realised that he was right. My hand phone has literally become an extended limb of mine. I am CONSTANTLY looking at it and it has drastically reduced my ‘connectednes’ with my surroundings. I know I have written about hyperconnectedness some time ago, of which you can read here but sadly I did not practice what I preached.

So I have taken some baby steps to solve this issue. Like I mentioned, I don’t look at my hand phone for messages the moment I am up. I don’t look at it when I am in the car with my husband and Pebbles. I don’t look at it while watching a movie on TV and I don’t look at it while Pebbles play, instead I play with her (She is so great at make believe games)

People say that all these apps are supposed to bring people closer but in actual truth, it is driving us apart. So I am taking a pledge to reduce hand phone time and increase substantial quality time with people who matter. Who is in it with me?

Image from Google

Zootopia

I held a contest for the school-going nieces and nephews last December. They were supposed to write a 200 word essay on the most influential person in their life. Alas out of 6 only 3 responded so all three were rewarded. Two of them, D and H are in KL so I treated them to a movie and meal.

Although both wanted to watch Ola Bola, I managed to convince them to watch Zootopia instead simply because I was more keen to watch the animation. Ok guys, don't bite off my head, I will watch Ola Bola eventually to support the local movie everyone is raving about.

Needless to say, I LOVED Zootopia. It is a funny, fast paced and steeped with moral values kind of movie that every set of parents with kids should watch. I am not going to spoil the fun by revealing the plot but rather I am going to list down a few key messages I found in that movie.

1) ALWAYS believe in yourself
     Nobody but you MUST believe that you can do whatever you set your mind to do. Detractors are there in your life not to dampen your spirit but to toughen you up therefore be thankful to them.

2) Working very HARD is the key to success
     You have to have reasonable goals (reasonable? Go ahead and have OUTRAGEOUS ones) and work hard to achieve them

3) Do not 'HOVER OVER' your children.
    This message is exclusively for over protective parents. It is imperative to let your children follow their dreams. It is difficult to let them go but do it with a loving heart and (LOTS of) prayers.

4) NEVER underestimate a person's strength
    We are not GOD so never judge. A small person doesn't mean he/she is weak and likewise, a big person is not always strong.

5) NEVER EVER stereotype those around you
    I think this is the key message in this movie. Like I said, I don't want to reveal the plot but when you watch it, you will know it right away. Sadly, stereotyping people according to race, gender, body size etc is the norm now. It is imperative to know that we are all belong to the human race and we come in all shapes, colours, sizes, beliefs and cultures. We need to strive to live harmoniously in the only home we have, Earth.

Although it is a show about animals, it very much resonates with us humans. For movie addicts like me, you will be able to relate some of the characters to the iconic movies such as Godfather (sorry, an itsy bitsy spoiler alert) It was also heart warming to see the cinema packed with more adults than children (it was during the school holidays!) because adults are beginning to realize that animations are worth watching in the cinema too. I wonder when Hubby is going to get that revelation? :P

So please do watch it and I guarantee you will fall in love with the characters especially Flash the Sloth (oops, sorry again)

image from Google

Pronunciation

What do you do when someone you know, mispronounces a word? Do you correct him or her immediately or do you just keep quiet? As for myself, I (in most instances) correct them simply because it was pronounced wrongly and they should know the right way of pronouncing it.

However many a times, they often feel offended when the correction is done. My question is, why do you need to be offended? It is all part of learning process. I suppose when the 'corrector' does it in a condescending manner, the corrected's ego is bruised hence the feeling of being offended arises.

The solution is pretty easy. When you hear someone mispronouncing a word, gently pronounce the word correctly. DO NOT make fun of the person and tell the whole world of the small little insignificant boo-boo. If the person gets defensive, GENTLY explain that the word is pronounced in such way. If they are still all angry and defensive, BACK AWAY. There is no point arguing over the silly thing or do what I do. Google to find out the right pronunciation and feel all smug that you are right. At the same time, if you are wrong ADMIT it.

Now for the person who is getting corrected, there is no harm in learning from mistakes. The world doesn't end just because you mispronounced the word(s). Be the better person by saying 'Oh is that how that word is pronounced? Thank you' Just take it as a lesson so you would not be potentially embarrassed when you mispronounce the word in the presence of different groups of people i.e superiors, strangers or worse a person you want to impress! Again, there is no point being all defensive when you are corrected. If you are not satisfied, just turn to our trusted buddy Mr.Google and find out. Be gracious if you are wrong and if you are right, don't gloat. Show the person the reference and guaranteed you both would have a good laugh over it amidst learning something new.

I remember mispronouncing the word rebel which I used in the context as a verb. Although the spelling is the same, the noun is rebel but the verb is pronounced as 'ribel'. The person who corrected me made fun of me in front of my friends and I was very ashamed so that is why I swore I would not make fun of anyone else in the same predicament. I do correct people but I strive to do it in a tactful manner and why I am doing it is to do them a favour and not to appear as some Ms.Know-it-All.I have been told off not to correct them but I gently tell them it is important to speak and pronounce words properly and correctly as communication is an important tool in any kind of relationships. At the same time, I am totally cool to be corrected as I am open to learning however it has be done tactfully for I am a human after all :) OK OK I am plain sensitive.. Hehehe

So dear correctors and corrected, there is enough problems in the world so let's strive to be amicable when a mispronounciation happens! Here's to speaking the language correctly. Cheers!

Image from Google