Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Jesse & The Chocolate Factory

"Daddy," my boy asked of me last week, "do you want to go to the chocolate factory?"

I was fascinated. Partly because Jesse was adept at articulating himself; but mostly because we were going to a chocolate factory. Then, my mind swirled in a vortex of endless free-flowing, creamy chocolate syrup as I drifted into caramel-flavoured, candy-coated, sugar encrusted fantasy factory, whereupon a tall flamboyant gentleman (who looked suspiciously like Johnny Depp) in a purple suit and top hat greeted me.

"They're just going to the Beryl factory," Mae said very matter-of-factly. "It's that local chocolate brand," she added. Mae has this unique gift of making the most enchanting journey sound mundane. You'd think she was force-fed chocolates as a kid. Heh.

"Do parents get to go?" I enquired. It was, after all, a field trip organised by Jesse's kindergarten, but I remained hopeful.

"Yes," the wife replied, "but do you really think we should?" Despite the fact that she too was considering it, Mae reasoned that Jesse would stick to us if we did indeed go. That would deprive our clingy little boy the experience of enjoying the trip with his little friends. *sigh* Besides, most of the other parents weren't going.

And so, tomorrow, Jesse goes to a chocolate factory. Meanwhile Daddy will stay at work wondering what it would be like to visit a chocolate factory.

Kids today have all the luck. When I was a kid, my teacher took us on a field trip to a shitty little farm where we saw cows and stepped in their shit. OMG, I think I hate my childhood. :P

Friday, April 11, 2008

Sold on Stem Cells

A couple of weeks back, I got a call from Sharon Low, the founder of StemLife. When she introduced herself, the first thought on my mind was, "Oh shit!"

"The first thing I want to say,"
she started, "is that everything is ok and the stem cells are fine."

Heh!
Mae and I had stored Jesse's cord blood with StemLife when he was born. And if anything were to happen to our deposit, I would be devastated. The woman read me like a book. She was also spot on that I might want to attend a lecture on stem cell research entitled, "Applications of Stem Cells in Malaysia - Are We Ready?" What can I say, I'm a science geek, info-junkie and all-round nerd. It's either that, or her casual mention of "free dinner". :)

So yeah. Mae and I will attend this event tonight and by tomorrow, hopefully I'll be something of an expert in stem cell research. And perhaps you have a review here. Remember you heard it here at Loopymeals.

ADDED: 14 Apri 2008, 7:51am

On Friday I had a meeting scheduled at 3:00pm. I figured I would have plenty of time to get thru the meeting, go home and get spiffed up and still make it to Renaissance at 6:30pm for cocktails. Jesse was already safe at my Mother-In-Law's. It was all quite perfect.

Except, I only managed to get off work at 7:00pm. When I got home at 8:00pm, Mae was all dressed up, all made up and quite fed up. *sigh* Work is killing me. And in more ways than one.