If there is a will, there is a way! - so they say.
I had a will 2 years ago and found the way 2 days ago!
Literally speaking.. my will was locked away until suddenly I saw an add blinking right in front of me on my MBP screen which said.. 'Kindle Self Publishing' on a site I always looked at for those very same 2 years - Shelfari!
I visited Kindle online and from there I saw another ad for publishing my book in print!
Wow and wow!
Who would have thought 'the way’ could possibly split itself to two?
But GUESS WHAT??..
I’m not just a proud author of one book but two!
The 2nd sprung about from a very adamant boy, my son who insisted on me writing him a story so that he could do illustrations for it the same way I was illustrating my first book. One person’s will became another person’s way - MINE!
How ironic!
Thank God I know some decent amount of computing work! Phew!
So wallah.. MY BOOKS!!
AN ODDLY HELPER
Author & Illustrator - Jennifer F Netto
My First book written on 24th April 2010 and published on the 23rd of May 2012.
THE BOY WHO LIVED IN HIS TOY
Author & Photographer - Jennifer F Netto
My 2nd book thanks to CJ who bugged but ironically inspired
me to come up with such a whimsical piece all in a day!
Written on the 23rd May 2012 and published on 24th May 2012.
"A way for a will" in my case turned out to be a way for 2 and I AM NOT COMPLAINING ;-)
I grew up with a love for nursery rhymes as a child and story books when I was older and my favorite stories among many in my younger days were Heidi and Ann of Green Gables.
I did appreciate fairy tales such as Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty but never got myself indulging in dressing and hair do's like a princess as I found it obnoxious. I preferred being in t-shirts, jeans, shorts and always with a great pair of shoes or boots and if I am lucky I get to accompany it with a gorgeous looking hat that always went superbly well with my short hair.
When it came to dresses, I truly loved those that came in cotton, moderately floral- if must, decently laced, sleeveless and may be with a pretty bow at the back. In fact I had a particular sort that I fancied most - dressing like a farm girl on a Sunday morning : long dress with white boots.
Back then I must say I should thank my dearest mum for having showered my favorite style on me. She always knew what would looked great on me and I loved it, though I don't really remember discussing style with her only till I was about twelve or thirteen years old.
Now that I am a mother myself to a lovely little 8 year old girl, I see much of my traits in dressing in her. Her likes and dislikes are similar to mine as a kid. Her disregard for princess-look-alikes and gaudy dresses, tiaras and bling blings as some kids deck on themselves is not her taste and trust me - I'm not complaining!
Was it the era I was born in that made me like the stuff I did?
If so, how is it that 30 years later I see it repeat through my little Belle?
Is it hereditary?
Did I inherit my sense of style from my mum?
Who did she get it from?
Her mum? Her aunt? Her friends? Her books?
She was from India but lived midway of her childhood till death here in Malaysia and Singapore.
So could it be she picked it up from her sociocultural and geographical exposure?
I've studied an entire semester with a great lecturer in UM on genetics and I'm sure it's not tied in our deoxyribonucleic acids so I guess that's the answer - I inherited her taste which she acquired through her exposure on fashion - thank God she was tasteful!!
As a mother we subsequently pass on our traits to our own kids. Our children are influenced by our taste in small ways till they've found their own unique style.
I know some of my likings for clothes came from the pictures in the books I've read, tv shows I watched back then as a kid and the rest must have been allowed to be part of my life thanks to my mum's own personal taste that found an equilibrium to that of my own.
Now, have you ever wondered what went wrong on the parental and child "see-saw" of dressing when you encounter a kid with a head full of pins, hair bands and rubber bands of all the colors and more of the rainbow with an outfit that screams HELP ME even in FAIRY LAND????
I have asked myself that question a million times.. MUST ONE WEAR EVERYTHING ONE HAS IN ONE'S CLOSET IN ONE DAY??
Moderation is important. As much as one may love princesses and fairy tales, you have got to be practical and sensible most especially as not to have your child look like a clown at a parade!
As a parent I believe we are responsible in many small ways to how our children dress and accessorize themselves. Therefore, mums, play that part right as it has the tendencies to be passed down from one generation to the next.
Gone were the days when teachers were respected for the height of intelligence, passion and nobility. These days, in some parts of the world you'd be surprise if you live long enough to say you served while other parts, you get teachers shouting out racial discriminating remarks at students, and flying shoes at faces of students yet get away with their act on the grounds of stress!
Teachers those days had a sense of passion and loyalty towards their profession as "educators" while these days we end up with mentally questionable individuals who look forward only to their monthly pay cheque and the maintenance of their tuition centres. Assessment vice they score because their shitty performance seems to be backed up by the principal. They are always backed up.
With the recent cases occurring in schools - teacher's discriminating their students, why is it not possible to sack them off as it is so easy to perform the expelling of a student?
If authorities put their foot down to such demoralising issues and practise a zero tolerance on such matters, teachers would know that they serve us and not the other way around! And would consider resignation if stress was something they cannot cope without lashing their tongue on their minority raced students?
To honour their service on a special day such as today's Teacher's Day makes me want to puke thinking about how many unworthy teachers are in the schools only because they filled a quota! I would say so because when I went for my TESL interview after form 5, 18 years ago, being Indian, I did not get the entry because there were enough Indians in the 2% quota where else girls from my school who fell in the category of the larger percentage who couldn't speak English for nuts were chosen to do TESL with an additional training on how to speak before proceeding with their degree! After 11 years of formal education, they could still pick those who needed to be thought how to speak the language before enrolment as if SPM wasn't good enough to tell you who deserved it!
It stinks even more because we know the teachers around us are those who performed "exceptionally" well when they were our school mates! And to think they are teaching our kids when they were nothing as students makes it difficult to swallow.
Racism on the other hand will always be a thing of the present because those who passionately and intelligently deserve to be teachers never gets the opportunity! We are made to think we don't deserve it because our quota is filled. Because we are of a certain race and not a common nationality. Racism will go on because too much hate has been put into children who leave high school and are unfairly treated for scholarships and university entrance. When that seed is planted, the future generation will grow remembering the injustice put upon their forefathers, us - who are still alive and kicking and have somehow by the Grace of God made it better than those who were fed with a silver spoon.
If you think we were treated unfairly while colonised by foreign governments, the racial injustice after independence is way worst!
Teacher's Day? - Stop fooling the kids is all I have to say! True teachers do exist, but sadly they are stuck in a basket of rotten apples!
Driving back after sending my kids to school today, I suddenly became metaphorical of how similar our life is to that of a glass.
A glass craftsman uses skilful techniques to make this natural substance into something useful practical and most often beautiful and all that effort put into making glass into sculptured products of beauty can go into pieces by a simple act of carelessness!
Drop it and it's all scattered!
Glass can be strong yet fragile depending on how it hits and falls.
Life is so similar to this isn't it?
We were given to ourselves, pure and natural, and we go through various phases that mould and sculpt us into something completely different; and one wrong choice in an accurate scattering angle can put all to waste!
But picking up those broken pieces can make you into a stronger person if you believe that the lesson in the event was worth learning from.
So no.. We are not like glass! We are better than it! Better because we can pick our broken pieces and mend them to be stronger!
I’m a big believer of this tag line - Children See.. Children Do!
The way a child behaves in public, or privately or within the close unit of his or her family, is the reflection of the older ones especially the parents at home.
Today over morning coffee with a good friend, X, this topic was our major discussion.
Reason for this was because another friend of ours D, is currently giving a cold treatment to X over an apparently innocent issue which happened at X’s daughter’s birthday party. According to X, D’s daughter was screaming for X’s daughter to only play with her at the party but the birthday girl was being a polite hostess, multi tasked instead. 2 months later and with no more play dates arranged by D, D’s daughter meets X’s daughter at a restaurant and with arms on waist, screamed at X’s daughter, WHY DID YOU IGNORE ME AT YOUR PARTY?
X finally realized why the play dates got cancelled and took it upon herself to advice her daughter never to ignore D’s daughter again.
Well my advice to X was to ditch that girl and tell her kid it’s not her fault at all! Especially since D’s daughter was being unreasonably selfish and irritating to demand such attention and whats worst is that D was next to her daughter all along at that party. Knowing D at a not so personal level, but enough experience to judge her mothering - she always thinks her daughter has to have it her way!
I mean there’s only that much of attention an 8 year old can give to each and every one invited and it is not the responsibility of X’s daughter to feed D’s daughter’s impatient superior attitude!
What’s worst is that D did not hush her daughter for saying such a thing aloud (not surprising to me!), it seemed like she almost wanted X to hear it - well: mission accomplished!
Yes kids are kids, but they do what they’ve learnt from somewhere.. and it becomes the parent’s responsibility to correct them. Innocently some can speak their mind and sound like a complete mini bitch, and when mother’s don’t advice such kids to watch their manners, they turn into mega bitches in the future! Sorry for my language.. but seriously, parents who think their child should be given the freedom of speech and adore the boldness of their kids will someday have it coming their way!
Not everything can be brushed off as cute, and innocent. You don’t stop them now, they won’t be able to tell the difference when they are older, unless someone bolder comes and slaps them for it!
So is there a point where parents get to sit back and watch and not be responsible for what their child does?
I guess NOT..
Our children are like plants..
You plant them as seeds, water them, fertilize them, adjust their bending patterns with a stick and a string, and make them grow in a condition to withstand harsh weather and loose soil.
Screw up one step.. and you might just have to dump the entire plant into the bin.
So the upbringing of a child is a very serious issue!
Not one that you should psycho over, but pay attention and discipline when you really need to. No one is expecting for a military parenting, if you get my point!
But firstly, if the parents themselves are such people.. the question that follows will be.. what else can you expect of their child, cause Children See.. Children Do! RIGHT?
OMG!!! Movie Makers are getting so smart these days! The way old gaudy annoying and choking fairy tales are taking a sophisticated twist is impressively amazing!
After being blown away at how well Tangled was directed, Mirror Mirror takes the spot of my favourite "New Age Fairy Tale"! The cast was simply spectacular.. They were all my favourites!! And having all of them in one movie was like having all my favourite pizza toppings in one.
Selecting Armie Hammer (love his accent after watching his double act in Social Network and yes his gorgeous looks too) as Prince Alcott was the best decision made and this act for Julia Roberts opened a new dimension to her acting skills! The dwarfs were tactically great and depth full and rather handsome too. Sean Bean! made my heart palpitate.. I meant it in a wonderful way although I wonder why he constantly has a constipated face from that of Game of Thrones. The costumes were lovely and the setting and script were witty, smart and touchy.
I hated Snow White as a kid you know. A pathetic young princess who needed to be saved by a pair of royal balls (I wasn't so shrewd back then but at such a tender age, I always wondered why ladies had to be depicted as dependent and weak more so being brought up by a strong woman in my life). However, the plot of Mirror Mirror flipped my regards for this classic a complete 180 degree!
Anyway.. since I never do write the plot in any of my movie reviews on my blog, I'm not going to do it now. You'll just have to watch it and bedazzled with the new directions.
Jason and Wilhelm Grimm who wrote Snow White back in 1812 would be smiling in their graves if they saw how their classic evolved in the 2nd decade of the new millennia! Alleluia for that..
The release of Mirror Mirror would definitely see a significant rise in 'fairytale humbug' converts like me!
If she had to choose between rice and curry in an Indian restaurant she would ask for Tosai or Brata instead. If she was at a Chinese restaurant, she would opt for steamed pau or noodles. But what she loves the most are French Pastries and Italian Pastas! My 8 year old sweetheart Isabelle has it in her head that she'd rather be French or Italian than Asian! The only Indian bit in her is her love for Tosai and Egg Bratas.
Today's movie outing led us to Deli France with Chicken cheese croissant and Sultana Croissant along with a glass of Pineapple Juice (her personal picks not mine). It was a delightful breakfast for her that it's almost time for dinner now yet she still says thank you for breakfast!
I guess that's probably why I craved for these similar foods being pregnant with her. She was moulding my diet to suit her palate even at the foetal stage of her life! Impressive!
Anyway, I only decided to go to Deli France out of my many choices because I knew I'd be impressing her! Hehe ;-)
