The Boy Had A Piano Exam

Big day on Wednesday. The Boy had his first piano exam and it was held at the University of Western Australia in a majestic old building. I went to work early as I had to pick him up just before lunch and after dropping him off back at school it wasn't worth heading back to work for an hour and a half only so I had the rest of the day off. I normally leave early for his taekwondo competition training that day.

I had a rough idea where it was. Had to head some three to four kilometres along from the main UWA campus along Princess Street. Kept driving for ages, so it seemed, and thought that I'd better pull over to check the map (don't have GPS). Pulled into a campus that was signposted as UWA so thought that that was a good start. Couldn't park in any of the parking bays nearby as they were for permit holders so kept driving until I came across the student parking area. After getting out of the car I found out that we were only 25 metres away from the entrance to the examination building. Lucky, eh?

He was as nervous as hell. It probably didn't help that his teacher mentioned how she remembered her exams and it didn't appear to be a happy memory when I collected him from school. Not only did he have to play three pieces in front of an examiner that he'd never met but he was quizzed on musical terms such as ritardando, decrescendo, etc with the real worry being the need to sing some notes to accompany what the examiner played. There were two other kids his age that were just before him as well so he's at the same level and I guess that that made him feel a bit better. He wasn't allowed to take any notes that would aid his playing, except for fingering, and so I had to rub some six pages clean - tiring work.

I think that he did alright. Couple of mistakes but nothing disasterous. Not sure when we'll receive the results though. Well done Boy.

Happy Boy after the piano exam

Majestic building at UWA's Claremont campus

Commemorative shields

Confucius Institue just down the hallway

Aforementioned hallway

Honour board

Lovely stairway

Frugal Bastard Presents - More Piano From The Boy

The Boy's Grandma requested some more tunes on the piano from The Boy. Here are a few videos taken this afternoon.


The Boy plays Jewish folk song by Larry Sitsky.


The Boy plays Quadrille by Joseph Haydn.


The Boy plays Raisins and Almonds by Anonymous.

Frugal Bastard and The Boy Present - Fun With Magnets

The Boy spends hours playing with his magnets and they must be his favourite toy. I thought we could make a video and put his talents on display. If not, maybe it would keep him busy for a while at least. See what you think.


Frugal Bastard and The Boy Present - Fun With Magnets

The World Is A Safer Place - The Boy Is A Blackbelt

Last Sunday we I spent four hours watching taekwondo blackbelt grading. The main reason behind that was for the fact that The Boy was grading for his blackbelt. The first group of students included many blackbelts going for higher dans and their board breaking, between three and five boards, was done individually. This took an hour and a half for that group. The Boy wasn't in the second group graded so it was nearly an hour later before he hit the floor.

Actually, it was the best grading that he has done so far. He had to do taeguk 4 to 8 (patterns), kicks and blocks, ho shin seul (self defence), one step sparring, two step sparring and break two boards. I don't think that he's broken the boards before so he surprised himself somewhat. And when the board breaking was complete he was one happy chappy.

It was so great to see him be awarded his blackbelt as he's worked hard for just over four years. Not bad for a nine year old. And the world should be just that bit safer.

Around The House Today

Here's a bit of what went on around the house today. We finished making a bird trap after The Boy read about one, maybe in some survival book for boys, and he badgered me to make it. The whole thing took a couple of weekends to make and only cost about $15. Well, I never profess to having been a wonderful woodworker but it should do the trick. If only we find a bird dumb enough to fall for it.





The Boy plays Enchanted City


The Boy plays Village Dance

The garden out the back is about to explode with life. The missus used a lot compost for the bulbs and look what happens when you have eaten watermelon and a few rockmelon.

A few too many watermelon seeds in the compost, methinks.

Whilst watering the garden out the front tonight I noticed a spider with a strange pattern on the underbelly. Cool, eh?

Spider underbelly.

I'm Proud Of My Boy After One Of Life's Had Lessons

When I came home from work today I was greeted by a forlorn son. I asked him what the problem was and he looked sheepishly over his shoulder in the direction of his lunchbox. Inside the lunchbox was his unfinished lunch. Thinking that he hadn't eaten his lunch, which angers me greatly, I told him off.

Let's go to the start of the story. Last night at taekwondo they hadn't out boxes of 48 Caramello koalas to volunteers who wished to sell them for fundraising. My boy was one of the quickest to raise his hand. This morning he took 20 to school and I thought that he might sell 10 as I didn't think that many kids would have too much money to spend. They were priced at $1 each and they are of a decent size so the price is reasonable. He sold all 20. They were very popular with the kids. Even his maths teacher bought two.

The reason he was so downcast was because he only had $18.05 for his efforts. Either some kids cheated him by using five cent coins instead of 10 cents or he didn't count the money properly. For whatever reason he was short. The reason I am proud of his is that he didn't ask me to make up for the shortfall but went to his piggy bank and made it up himself. Not only is he raising money for someone other than himself but he takes the fall for the shortcomings. I've heard of parents bailing their children out for traffic infringements and the like when the kids are adults but my eight year old has a decent head on his shoulders. And he will learn a great lesson from this. Tomorrow he intends to take the 28 remaining chocolates to sell but will ensure that he is given the correct money before handing over the goods.

Reminds me of my motto - "Don't Trust Any Bastard".

Somebody Flicked The Switch And Turned On The Artist

The Boy isn't much of an artist. At least, until this afternoon he wasn't considered much of an artist. It's like somebody has flicked a switch and turned on the artist in him.

I.Am.Shocked.

I am stonkered.

Stick figures were his speciality. In fact, he couldn't do much else. I dunno what's happened but stick figures are so yesterday.

Armys - done early in 2008

Fight - done early in 2008

Elephant - done in early 2008 style

He asked me what I thought it was and I felt that it looked like an ant.

Elephant - August 5th 2008

Wow, what a transformation.

Stegosaurus - August 5th 2008

Not a bad impression of a Stegosaurus methinks.

The Harrier - August 5th 2008

When he stops drawing freehand and uses a rule you can see the amazing difference in quality.

Ferrari F50 - August 5th 2008

This is my favourite drawing. He's even worked out perspective.


At first I thought that his mum had helped him when I saw the Ferrari drawing. But no, she was cooking. Then I thought that he must have copied it from a book. But no, no books to be found. It was just an image in his head and something told him to draw it piece by piece. Lookout Nick but you may have some competition soon.

Boys' Day Out

Yesterday I did something that hadn't been done before and needed to be done. I took a day off work during the school holidays and spent it with the Boy. First job after breakfast was to go to the bank and dump the change into his bank account which then was upgraded to an account paying an additional 2.5% p.a. Then we went to the movies to see Hancock. The local movie reviewer gave the first half of the movie 2.5 stars and 0 stars for the second half. That rating had me a little concerned. But I needn't have been. The movie turned from an action/comedy to drama/love story, with action, and we both really enjoyed it. People even applauded at the conclusion of the movie.

Couple more items of work then we bought some pizzas. One each. Yum. Normally the three of us eat two pizzas with a few slices left over. Not yesterday. Did I mention that it rained nearly all day? We had just under an inch of rain. Good day for doing things indoors. Master stroke time - off to the arcades. The Boy has only been to the arcade once, when he was five, and so this was a treat. We did play a NASCAR race together and he beat me on the line by 0.32 seconds! He came out of nowhere and there wasn't anything wrong with my driving. Bugger.

Miky met us in the city after work and we bought some Korean food and ice creams. Yum. Again.

It was a good day and he even thanked me without prompting. I had been a little concerned that being an only child he took too much for granted. But his attitude seems to be changing. I think it has something to do with wanting a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. Christmas presents - the ultimate behaviour modification device.

I should do this more often.

MS Readathon - The Boy Is Fundraising

When I was a boy, some time ago now, all the kids in school were invited to take part in the MS Readathon. It's a charitable event whereby you read books and gather sponsorship money. All the money raised goes to the MS Australia - Multiple Sclerosis Australia. Back in my day you gathered sponsorship for each book that you read. Once your month of reading was done you collected the sponsorship money and handed it in. If you reached a certain level of sponsorship you received a prize which gave you an incentive. I read a few of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy books, among others. The first novel took me only two days as I was so keen.

Yu-Jin has decided to take part in this years MS Readathon which is very pleasing. In the first two days he read three books! Alas he only received one donation, which was mine to kickstart him, and he's eagerly looking for sponsors. If you would like to sponsor Yu-Jin please go to his MS Readathon Homepage - https://www.msreadathon.org.au/member/?HPID=440281 - and you can use a range of credit cards to do so. Remember, if you are an Australian taxpayer any donations of $2 or more are tax deductible. I'll keep a list of the books he has read updated.

Just this morning we checked his fundraising page and some dear friends, the Cutlers, had donated $20 each! Well, that perked the boy up and he's read another book this morning and is starting a second. And they rubbed it in that the "old man had to dig a bit deeper".

Even if you can afford only a couple of dollars that will help. If not, send some encouragement.

Similarities Between A Boy And His Rabbit

I'll compose a short list of similarities I've noticed between the boy and his pet rabbit in the week that Stew has been with us. Miky even called him Stew yesterday and she's determined that his name is Tommy. He he.

- same front teeth
- mouth is always open
- drop things on the floor (one drops food and the other drops poo pellets)
- jumps on the sofa (frowned upon with both parties)
- runs around the house
- eats a little, plays a little, eats a little, plays a little, eats a little...

Afternoon At The Driving Range

The boy and I took some time out on Sunday afternoon to go to the driving range at Whaleback Golf Club. The 3-wood was fairly straight. Straight over the right side fence followed by one straight over the left side fence. Well, it amused the boy somewhat. Not having played since last Easter it was hardly surprising when I a blister appear on my left thumb. What to do in this situation, especially considering that you've paid for the balls? Change hands, of course. So I hit a few left-handed 6-irons. The result wasn't too bad either. All within the 100-125 metres range and pretty straight.



FB striking an 8-iron



FB striking a left-handed 6-iron

The boy enjoyed himself. Mostly he wanted to hit the guy in the ball-collecting vehicle and was disappointed when I didn't do it.



The Boy striking a 3-wood



The Boy is reasonably handy with the left-handed 6-iron also



Nice drive from the Boy

We also had a putting competition. I let him do the bunker practice by himself as my thumb was hurting too much. Watching him was rather reminiscent of my mate Loppy and his 11 or 13 shots to get out of a bunker one day.



The Boy in bunker trouble