Siu Ying the Small

Recently Siu Ying becomes a fan of Hipot. Hipot is a restaurant which offers hot pot. The first time I know the existence of this restaurant was from Facebook. A friend who posted some information about this restaurant on Facebook saying that the food were inexpensive but delicious. As this restaurant is quite close to Siu Ying's school, we went to have hot pot lunch before Siu Ying going to school one day.

Siu Ying found it quite a different experience having hot pot and kept on putting food into the pot (making the pot always full and I was having difficulties finding the food I wanted inside the pot). She was very excited seeing steam coming out from the pot. She was also found it very funny playing with the controller controlling the power of the stove (small children please do not play with the controller, but Siu Ying is old enough to play with it). In short, there are something she can play with inside the restaurant and that may be the reason why she likes it.

Siu Ying was excited while having hot pot


Just HK$26 with 20 types of food and a drink

The lunch only cost HK$26 with 20 types of food and a drink (with no service charge). Every person have his/her own pot with soup of your own choice. The place was quite comfortable but just too much steam inside the restaurant (imagine there are 80 hot pots producing steam simultaneously). I think they should improve their ventilation system, otherwise you might doubt yourself inside a bathroom. I can tell you those 20 types of food were not cheating and must be able to make you full. Sadly, we didn't have enough time to finished all of our food as Siu Ying needed to go to school (she was late for school on that day because of this hot pot lunch). But even if we didn't finished our food, those HK$26 food still made us very full.

After having hot pot lunch at Hipot, Siu Ying asked for having hot pot again on the next day. She really likes hot pot very much.

It is not difficult to find small children wearing glasses nowadays. I usually think that they are quite poor and doubt if they were caused by watching too much television. Siu Ying didn't understand the reason of wearing glasses. As she always see her mother wearing glasses, Siu Ying also wanted to have a pair. She thought that glasses are fashion, not function. No matter how many times explaining the reason of wearing glasses, she still didn't understand and kept on requesting to have a pair of her own.

In Hong Kong, the government will offer a sight test for children at the age of four and Siu Ying had attended the test about a month ago. The test result showed that Siu Ying got 300 degrees of astigmatism 散光 in her left eye and the doctor urged us to buy her a pair of glasses as soon as possible. Her situation was quite bad that the doctor was afraid that Siu Ying may get amblyopia (lazy eye) 弱視 if she don't wear glasses. She only got 0.6 in optometric assessment 視力測驗. This result is quite horrible!

We asked the doctor why she got astigmatism, and the doctors said that it was caused by inborn and not by any other factor including watching too much television. This is permanent and she need to wear glasses for her lifetime! So when you people see Siu Ying wearing glasses, don't blame her parents or Siu Ying for watching to much television! Astigmatism in her right eye wasn't caused by poor habit! It is just caused by DNA.

Yum cha after taking the pair of glasses


It seems she was quite enjoying wearing glasses

Now Siu Ying has her wish come true, she got a pair of glasses. Doctors and optometrists 視光師 said that children are not willing to wear glasses and we need patience to encourage Siu Ying to wear them. However, we don't have much difficulty to ask her to wear glasses. Maybe it was she who wanted to wear glasses in the beginning and so she is willing to wear them now. But I am quite sure later or when she has grown up, she won't like wearing glasses as most girls do.

I really doubt whether Siu Ying likes taking photo or not. Sometimes she is quite enthusiastic but sometimes she isn't. I think the most important factor affecting her to have the impulse to take photo is just by her mood, not by whether the object is beautiful or not. Adults usually take photos when he/she saw something beautiful. But for Siu Ying, she takes photos of beautiful things and also something with nothing special (maybe she is an artist and we ordinary people cannot understand the significant of those nothing-special-things).

As many other people or photographers may agree, the most difficult kind of photos to have good results are portraits. It is very difficult to produce a good portrait even if you are using a very good camera. Equipments, techniques, weather and model are all essential factors. As Siu Ying has already got some experience in shooting non-living objects, she is now ready to go into a more advanced area of photography. She got a model and tried to took some portraits. See her work at below.

Siu Ying got a model for her portrait work


This one is the best photo taken but still out of focus

She had taken many photos of the baby but all of them were out of focus. Although the camera that she was using was not a professional camera but only an ordinary digital camera, it got auto focus and face detection functions and it shouldn't be difficult to focus the model! Were her hands not steady enough and when she pressed the shutter, the camera moved a little bit making it out of focus? Was the weather not good on that day and the light source was so dim that the auto focus function couldn't work? I don't know but it is a good try for Siu Ying.

I have a friend who also let his son to take photos but he will delete all the photos after his son had finished. I don't know why he need to delete his son's work as hard disk space isn't a too much concern nowadays. To me, I will try not to delete the photos taken by Siu Ying (except those extremely ugly photos) and will let her see her works when she grows up.

We have taken many photos of Siu Ying in the past and she really loves to be the object of our works. After being the object for so many times, she likes to become the one who take photo this time. It was she who asked for taking photos, showing that she was really interested in it. We also liked to see if she could do it and so gave her the camera and let her do what she wanted.

Siu Ying took the camera and then running around to take photos as she liked. She was quite excited and kept on running to look for something to shoot. When she saw someone taking photo of something, she would then imitate others to take photo of that object. We were quite worried that she might drop the camera. I love this camera very much but it was the old model and was discontinued from selling. If she broke the camera, we cannot buy it back. But she isn't a careless girl and the camera was safe after she had finished taking photos.

Siu Ying took photo when she saw something interesting

The outcome at the above situation


She went elsewhere to take another photo

Her finger blocked part of the lens in this work

As you can see from her works, she could focus the object and place it at the appropriate place of the photo. Do you think Siu Ying can become a good photographer? Actually Siu Ying had taken many photos and some of them were quite good. If you like to see the other works of Siu Ying, I will post them in this blog next time.

There are so many articles in this blog about Siu Ying playing at children playgrounds that you should know she is very good at playing the games (almost any kind) there. Other than climbing and running, Siu Ying is also very good at balancing as you can see from the following video.

Everybody should have played the balance beam 平衡木 before. In the past, the balance beams were fixed stationary on the ground, making it quite boring as children could go through it easily. Nowadays, the balance beams are more dynamic and become not as boring as before. Some movable parts were introduced to the middle of the balance beam so that it will move while you are walking through, making it more difficult. Challenge creates fun. This balance beam can be found at the Elements, MTR Kowloon station.

At the first glance of this game, it seemed difficult. Adults may find it easy but for children at the age of 3 (almost 4), it may be a challenge. However, Siu Ying could go through it quickly without any difficulty. Being trained for three years making her skill good. What will be her next challenge?

I mentioned that Siu Ying loves playing bowling at JumPin Gym USA 冒險樂園 very much. Up to now, her passion in bowling has never been decreased but increasing. She even invented some new techniques in order to play bowling better. You can compare how she played bowling in the past (video 1, she played bowling when she was not yet two; video 2, she played bowling when she was two and a half) with the recent video below. You should find that she is playing better and better (of course, otherwise she should have some problems). As Siu Ying has grown up a lot and becoming stronger, she can now play bowling very smoothly, proficiently, efficiently but aimlessly. She still can't aim to the targets and she just throw out the ball (I doubted she didn't bother to aim). Although she couldn't aim the target, it was very funny. Please see the video especially near the end, it was absolutely an advanced bowling technique.

Her posture was modified from her previous kamehameha 龜波氣功 posture but more powerful this time. Since she isn't too care about aiming the targets, I now doubt that her main purpose of playing bowling is just to throw out the ball or to give vent to her internal emotions.

I just wanted to tell you that Siu Ying the Small is still operating and not abandoned. Frankly speaking, I really wanted to close this Website eight months ago but since there are still some sponsors sponsoring us, I am not willing to close it due to those money. Strangely enough, Siu Ying the Small hasn't been updated for more than eight months but those sponsors still stick to us. In order to thank those sponsors and those friends who still read this blog (I think hardly any) even after eight months of blankness, I update you with some (old) news.

I believe every children will experience (or had experienced) hurting themselves while playing due to carelessness. Siu Ying had numerous experience of hurting herself already, but this time the hurt was quite serious. She broke her head and was being carried to the hospital by an ambulance! It was a passerby who dialed 999 at once when she saw Siu Ying was bleeding, otherwise it wouldn't be such an exaggeration to go to the hospital by ambulance.

Her wound needed to be sutured by two stitches and there will be a permanent scar on her head. The most amazing thing is that her scar is almost the same as her father has. Her father broke his head at childhood and his head was also sutured by three stitches. The position of the daughter's scar was almost at the same position as that on the father's head. It is hard to believe that they are not father and daughter. Is there any myth saying that father and daughter have the same fate?

Siu Ying got hurt on her head here


Siu Ying wasn't care too much about the hurt

一 陣 悅 耳 的 歌 聲 打 擾 了 我 和 周 公 子 的 棋 局 ， 我 緩 緩 地 跟 隨 那 歌 聲 的 來 源 ， 發 現 是 一 隻 灰 白 色 的 小 肥 鳥 在 我 家 的 冷 氣 機 上 歌 唱 。 它 的 歌 聲 帶 有 一 種 跳 躍 的 感 覺 ， 恍 忽 就 像 告 訴 我 今 天 是 一 個 很 開 心 的 日 子 。 為 何 今 早 的 小 肥 鳥 特 別 興 奮 的 呢 ？ 今 天 究 竟 有 什 麼 特 別 使 到 平 時 懶 散 的 小 肥 鳥 都 精 神 起 來 呢 ？ 我 把 注 意 力 集 中 在 家 中 的 月 曆 ， 確 定 小 肥 鳥 的 反 應 是 理 所 當 然 的 ── 今 天 是 九 月 九 日 ， 李 小 櫻 的 三 歲 生 日 。

時 間 的 巨 輪 自 從 三 年 前 的 九 月 九 日 開 始 ， 已 加 速 轉 動 。 三 年 前 的 那 一 夜 好 像 是 昨 天 的 事 ； 小 櫻 的 成 長 正 以 光 速 前 進 ； 我 身 體 上 的 皮 膚 細 胞 仍 能 告 訴 我 三 年 前 小 櫻 的 體 溫 ； 每 當 我 閉 上 眼 睛 ， 小 櫻 的 第 一 聲 「 爸 爸 」 仍 然 可 以 清 楚 聽 見 ； 小 櫻 身 上 的 氣 味 仍 然 感 覺 新 鮮 。 為 何 三 年 時 間 會 過 得 那 麼 快 ？ 三 年 間 我 的 眼 紋 多 了 並 且 深 了 ， 問 過 很 多 朋 友 介 紹 eye cream 都 未 能 修 復 ； 三 年 間 小 櫻 的 容 貌 越 來 越 美 ， 恍 忽 就 是 和 我 攪 對 抗 。 三 年 間 我 的 體 力 越 來 越 差 ， 現 在 抱 起 小 櫻 都 感 到 吃 力 ； 三 年 間 小 櫻 的 氣 力 越 來 越 大 ， 現 在 上 街 購 物 多 了 一 個 幫 手 。 三 歲 有 什 麼 意 義 ？ 三 歲 就 定 八 十 ？ 三 歲 就 代 表 要 入 學 續 書 ？ 三 歲 搭 車 要 比 錢 ？ 我 想 ， 三 歲 就 是 給 她 的 父 親 一 個 機 會 去 寫 這 編 怪 文 。

小 肥 鳥 唱 出 最 後 一 首 歌 後 就 飛 往 蔚 藍 的 天 空 ， 去 尋 找 牠 的 早 晨 全 餐 。 在 寂 靜 的 清 晨 時 間 ， 我 開 始 想 著 九 月 九 日 這 個 日 子 ， 究 竟 九 月 九 日 為 何 那 麼 特 別 ？ 九 加 九 等 如 十 八 ， 把 十 八 反 轉 就 是 八 十 一 ， 把 八 十 一 平 方 又 是 九 …… 不 對 ， 我 不 要 玩 數 字 遊 戲 呢 。 剛 巧 我 的 另 一 位 摰 愛 又 是 在 九 月 九 日 出 生 的 ， 上 帝 在 不 同 年 份 的 九 月 九 日 賜 下 了 兩 個 對 我 極 其 重 的 人 來 到 這 個 世 界 上 。 九 月 九 日 成 為 了 我 的 幸 運 之 日 。 我 期 渴 望 在 每 年 的 九 月 九 日 ， 幸 運 之 神 都 要 賜 福 給 我 。

清 晨 時 份 特 別 寧 靜 ， 周 公 子 正 催 促 我 返 回 之 前 的 對 局 。 在 我 返 回 棋 局 之 前 ， 我 祝 在 今 天 生 日 的 那 兩 個 人 生 日 快 樂 ！