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Three

We had a little early party for Isaac over the weekend. It seems like yesterday I was cradling him at the hospital.

Joy had to stay home with Ning, because of the nasty gastric flu going around. But she is getting better, and taking food again. That afternoon when she threw up all her food really scared us.

The lovely bear cake was made by Tricia of Tempting Treats (temptingtreats.com.sg), who also made the second birthday cake, her signature Mango cheesecake, we ate at my mom-in-law's.

Of course, 2nd Uncle (my younger brother) just HAD to place that candle right there.

When it was time to blow out the candles, Isaac found the cake too far, and decided to climb the table to get to it.

He was his usual rambunctious self, and Grandma had to take him outside once to read him the riot act, but by and large, he was ok.

It is hard to be too unhappy about his chattiness and loudness. We would give an arm and more to see his older sister develop speech.

His name means "He Laughs" and he certainly does.

One of the hardest things we had to do was taking that step of faith having a second child after dealing with Faith's autism. We never regretted taking it. Just as much as we never regretted having his big sister.

the mrbrown show: poetry slam

Poetry is slammin' at mrbrownshow.com.

the mrbrown show: moon lift

Take the Singapore moon lift at mrbrownshow.com.

Law Media Debate at Supreme Court

Just finished chairing a very fun Law vs Media debate organised by the Singapore Academy of Law. It's a yearly event and the speakers were very entertaining. Especially when they had to do my little unscheduled final-minute games (ever tried finishing your final minute of debating while striking a pose every sentence, or doing it in falsetto?). Very sporting of them.

Now I can tell my children Papa went to Supreme Court, and came out alive.

But a bit paisei, i was probably the most casually dressed fella there.

Last year the Media team won. This year the Law team won the rematch. Best speaker was Adrian Tan, from the Law team.

Oh ya. Remind me not to drink so much mineral water while on stage. No chance to go toilet for more than two hours can be quite jialat.

Tired of having maids that need rest?

Just call 1-800-myslave or visit our website www.slaves.com.sg for no-off low-pay domestic help!

the mrbrown show: macpherson vice

No Lor. No Order. At mrbrownshow.com.

the mrbrown show: local versions of tv hits

Try watching these local versions of American TV hits at mrbrownshow.com.

the mrbrown show: rules for entering a chinese garden

Missed the Mid-Autumn Festival because of the haze? Visit A Chinese Garden at mrbrownshow.com.

23-hour mini-mart

It's 2.15am. I'm tired and sleepy.

One more stop, the 24-hour mini-mart at the petrol station.

I spend 10 minutes grocery shopping and after picking up seven packets of rice milk for Faith (we ran out so this was urgent), and assorted stuff like cereal, sugar-free cookies and a bottle of cold oolong tea. Then I lugged my basket to the cashier's only to find out they cannot sell anything for the next hour, because the computer system is down.

Thanks hor.

the mrbrown show: hello bbc/when IMF came to town

Happy happy news at mrbrownshow.com.

$1.80 bak chor mee, where to find?

Here at Hougang Ave 7 Wet Market, in Opposition country. Their minced meat noodle was tasty too, at this Punggol Noodle stall.

Lanterns at MacRitchie

It's a full moon tonight, if you can see it through the haze. But nothing is going to stop our parade of kids, parents and grandparent from doing the lantern walk this Lantern Festival.

Even little Joy came along. We held on to Faith's hand most firmly, because we were walking along a huge body of water, her fave thing.

Then after the inevitable burning of a few lanterns, we clean up and proceed back to base for grilled marshmellows.

Fun stuff.

the mrbrown show: finding nemo

Ruby buys a digital camera and meets some fish at mrbrownshow.com.

Morgan Stanley's chief economist balek kampong

Andy Xie's resignation as Morgan Stanley's chief economist in Asia last week followed an e-mail in which he characterized Singapore as an economic failure dependent on illicit money from Indonesia and China.

Xie, who worked at Morgan Stanley for nine years, sent the e-mail to his colleagues after attending the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings last month in the Southeast Asian island state. The 46-year-old Shanghai-born economist questioned why Singapore was chosen to host the conference and said delegates "were competing with each other to praise Singapore as the success story of globalization."

"Actually, Singapore's success came mostly from being the money laundering center for corrupt Indonesian businessmen and government officials," Xie, who was based in Hong Kong before leaving Morgan Stanley on Sept. 29, wrote in the e-mail. "Indonesia has no money. So Singapore isn't doing well.

Read the rest of this Bloomberg article.

And from an earlier Bloomberg piece:

...At a dinner party hosted by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, "people fawned him like a prince," Xie wrote. "These Western people didn't know what they were talking about,'' he wrote, describing the praise for Singapore as "nauseating pleasantries."

Also see Urban Rant and Finance Asia.

the mrbrown show: truth in advertising

We endorse celebrity advertising at mrbrownshow.com.

the mrbrown show: fasttrack kindergartens

Learn faster at this super school, enrol at mrbrownshow.com.

You down wit yo MP?

Stand by for some connecting-with-the-youth dancing from your post-65 MPs, y'all!

From Channelnewsasia:

"MPs to perform hip hop dance moves at Chingay Parade next February"

Members of Parliament from the post-65 generation will be performing hip hop dance moves at the Chingay Parade next year...

"All of us are having fun. It's not important whether we perform well, we dance well or whether we look professional on tv or during the parade. Most importantly, we have to connect with the youths of today," said Lam Pin Min, MP, Ang Mo Kio GRC.

Methinks the da boyz from da crew should get educated in da ways of da Hood by a bruddah from the Old School. I'm talkin' 'bout DJ MMLee (yeah you know he), in da house!

Not everyone was impressed with this hip hop effort though. dk99 from SPUG sez:

they are also NOT THAT young lor....

they think its so easy to connect with the youth meh?

youth blog, they also blog.
youth dance hiphop, they also dance hiphop.

come on lah.... u really want to connect with the youth, u just need to open ur ears and listen. don need come out so many pattern and act wannabes.... u'll onli make the youth move further from u onli...

the mrbrown show: photos of new studio being constructed

Check out the in-progress photos of the new studio at mrbrownshow.com.

Prison Break

Isaac finally got to go out with us over the weekend. Mommy and Papa were so busy during the weekdays, just going out to the tiny mall near our home was a treat.

We let him take two rides, one on the Barney and another on Thomas the Tank Engine, which is a lot because we do not want to make these 20-cent, no, now $1, kiddy machines, a habit.

He scampered around the mall, chatting with strangers and even approaching a dustbin and saying "hi" at its mouth.

My wife whispered, "Aiyoh that boy, look, he's even talking to the trashcan. You'd think we imprison the kid and he never goes out. Haha!"

Michael Jackson's evil twin does "Thriller"

This is sooooo wrong.