Grubbs n Critters

March 21, 2013

Furby crazy

The Furby craze has been trending in Thailand in the recent months. From memory, I seem to recall the existence of what used-to-be-a-cute creature for a 5 year old from years and years ago; possibly it hit the market right about the time when I was barely 10 years old. I recognized that it was cute, but I never really did have any affinity to Furby. (or my parents just weren;t rich enough to buy me one)

But this Furby craze took over my office by storm. My (younger) Thai colleagues whose average age ranges from 25-29 years ol have all been swooning over this furry thing. While a handful of us are working and typing away vigorously at our desks trying to concentrate the tasks at hand, these kids play with Furby. They learn Furbish and they speak Furbish, and from the corner of where I am sitting, I could hear giggles and strange sounding baby-babbles, only to discover that Furby was having some strange conversations with my human colleagues.

What an odd thing! I would have thought that Furby are for kids below 10 years old, but apparently in Thailand, specifically in my office, those of the older age group are so into them that they all are willing to learn an alien language.

What I find more intriguing is the fact that the craze has gone so over the top that the Science Ministry had even issued a warning to parents about Furby. The warnings are highlighted as these:

International Anti-Ageing Medicine Institute director Dr Krissada Sirampuch said seven impacts of kids playing with high-tech toys including the cute, furry Furby robotic toy were;

1. Children become so obsessed with the toy that they lose the ability to interact with people around them or become hostile to society.

2. Children become overly attached to the toy, causing them to pay less attention in class if they take it to school.

3. Children enjoy playing with the toy until past their bedtime, causing them to sleep late, which affects their body’s ability to produce growth hormone.

4. Children obsessed with virtual pet or tablet games might assume that violently treating real small pets is all right because the animals won’t really die and can be “fixed”, as in toys or games.

5. Children playing alone with toys could develop the habit of talking to themselves, which could slow down their speech and brain development. Because children’s brains can’t differentiate real voices from artificial ones, they may start to copy the toy’s voice and speak like a cartoon character.

6. Children playing with toys all day might refuse to play sports or run around outdoors with other kids. This could affect their playing skills, which are important in the development of muscles and the brain. They could also become passive and overweight, or even sick from flu, cold, allergies and Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.

Mind you, this is an official news report, and an official document – a warning serious enough to make it into the news!

My brains on the other hand, is struggling to make some sense of the warnings issued because it made me wonder if someone wrote this up as a serious joke and trying to play mind games with me as somehow my not-so-smart brain is not able to make the connections! For the 5 warnings above, my take is to just take the damn Furby away from the kids so they won’t get overtly attached to the toys or play with it till past bedtime.

And 25 year olds playing with Furby and diligently learning Furbish – I mean, what did I miss here?!

Amazing Thailand. This country has really gone furby-crazy.

Original article of the above can be found here.

Inside-out Duplo Jello

Category: Food

Inspired by a posting I stumbled upon to make Duplo Jellos several months back, I finally got on my arse and bought a packet of agar-agar powder in my bid to surprise Spud (and her friends who were coming over for a weekend play date) with edible duplos.

I was revved up. I made them in 3 flavours – melon, strawberry and orange and coloured them with food colouring accordingly. I then took the instructions for what it was and spent half an hour in the kitchen to boil some water, dissolve the sugar and the agar-agar powder as well as meticulously cleaned 31 pieces of Duplos to make those jellos…

…only to realise later that I had made them inside out! Gahhh!!!

I guess I was simple-minded. The instruction looked so straightforward and easy that it did not cross my mind that the Duplo Jello idea I nicked of a Facebook posting could have pointed to a Duplo Jello MOULD I should be buying should before even I begin to attempt making a Duplo-like jello. Big Duh!

I should have realised that sooner, but like I said, I was simple-minded. And after slaving through 31 pieces of Duplos in trying to get those darn jellos out, I felt cheated and stupid.

Spud was amused, and enjoyed licking the jellified jellos while they were still in the duplos, but she did not enjoy eating them. I thought the texture was a little hard, too. I was so impressed with my jello skills that I forgot to serve them to the girls when they came over for a play date the next day. (I binned them soon after) They didn’t miss much – they seemed to be contented watching Finding Nemo while wearing identical-looking bows on their head, thanks to one of the moms.

My only consolation is that at least the majority of the duplo pieces are now finally being washed thoroughly. They have even been sterilized and are safe for babies and toddlers to stick them in the mouths again.

Spud’s prediction

Category: Being Parents

“It’s going to rain, Mama!” Spud exclaimed while looking up to the sky as we walked out of the apartment building.

I looked up and while I thought that the morning was not as bright as the previous days, it wasn’t as dark either. There were no dark clouds and there was no wind; and it did not appear like it was going to rain anytime soon. In fact, it was way too bloody hot to even expect a drop of rain.

But I replied with a, “Really? You think it’s going to rain?”

And to that, Spud replied with a confident, “Yes!” . To which I replied, “I’m not so sure – I don’t think so though, it is way too hot for rain. Quite unlikely, I think.”

We then walked on, and halfway to her school, Spud decided that she has had enough of walking and wanted me to carry her. The weather today was extremely humid, and by the time I dropped her off in school, I was perspiring like crazy!

Already almost drenched in my own perspiration, I continued walking to my office. And just about halfway there, the rain came pouring down without any warning. Big, giant droplets of rain, too! I was walking in a wide open space with no access to any nearby shelter. I had no brolly and I had nowhere to run and hide.

As I let out my biggest sigh, I quickened my pace and resigned myself to getting wet from a flash-rain that came from nowhere.

There then came a realization: Spud has been right about the rain after all – and, I should have probably listened to her!

The rain pretty much stopped the moment I stepped into my office building. Figures.