Wants and Needs

Different from animals which usually only going for what they need, we human being, for the most part, after gunning for what we need, we have desire to seek extra things. I think that pretty much sum up most of events or movement in human history, except those of natural disasters. Genghis Khan and his Mongol armies conquer Asia and Europe not for what they need, but what they want. Why the European flocked to America? Why German, Japan and Italy started invasions and caused WWII? Why the U.S. went to Iraq? None of those were because of needs, it would be lying for whoever say so.

If all human beings only go for what they need, some people would think that the world could be much more peaceful. Cos, we only eat for survival, we only wear clothes to stay warm, we would happy with a shelter, and any transportation mean would be fine. There were philosophers wrote theory about it, and some people did try to implement that. In the Utopian world under communism, people are treated equally by allocating them only what they need. We all know how that went, just need to do a bit searching of history in the net.

We human beings just have desire. It is source of our creation, development and advancement. We have planes because we wanted to fly. We have paper because we don’t want to carry our thoughts on heavy means. We have printings because we didn’t want to write all the time, etc. For most regular folks, including me, yes we may not be inventor or trail blazer of some sorts. Needs and wants still control us everyday indeed. Our needs make us get up to go to work everyday, and our wants make us to work hard to perform at work.

From a business sense, satisfying human’s needs would make decent money, cos the demand will always be there. However, satisfying our desire would make the serious money. The risk is greater, but so does the reward. Cos, only people that have already been satisfied with their needs will think about their desires. The greater the dream that you try to help someone to fulfill it, the higher a premium that those want that to be fulfilled will be willing to pay for it. Namely, the greater margin you can charge. Certainly, with a bit of economy of scale, the cost of fulfilling desire will go down and you can still make money by volume.

So, what do we want? That may sound too broad, many people would say that there is no limit of our imagination. Is that true? I would challenge that idea a bit. Yes, there is no limit to our imagination, but there mostly have the same origin – the source of our desire is to satisfy our senses and our mind. So, how that work?

For our senses, that would be what we see, smell, hear, taste and touch, and any combination of them. For our mind, that is much more complicated. I would say that some of them are culture specific, but many of them would be tied to common universal values. For example, to be loved, cared, worshipped, admired, praised, etc.

Most religions, particularly Buddhism, are trying to suppress our desire, or direct our urge of wanting material things or things that would harm ourselves or others to something else, through different methods. Like, if we want certain things, we are told to pray God for assistance. As a result, that would deviate our attention or reliance on our full strength to get certain things. Objectively, it ‘may’ reduce our chance of getting what we want. However, the side effect is that we would be more comfort on our failure and blame part of the failure on God. However, if the thing itself is harmful, we would thank God for that. Mediation is another method to make us think about whether we should want certain things or not. As many desires are ‘urges’, once we got time to think, to calm our impulse down, we would be very likely to understand that it is not something that we need. If that thing is very hard to get, just put the desire of pursue down would be very relaxing and liberating. That actually is quite helpful to most of city dwellers like us that are surrounded by material things all the time.

I would suggest that we can take an exercise to understand where did our money goes, are they fulfilling our needs? Or extras were spent on things that we want? Or the worse part would be that we spent on things that we actually don’t need or want. What we can do is that, along the budget or expenses lot that some of us for personal finance management, add a column to mark if those expense are ‘want’, ‘need’, or ‘neither’. I think the result would be quite interesting, useful, and maybe even surprising as well. Wanna give a try?

Michael Jackson R.I.P.(1958 - 2009)

Whenever celebrity dies, especially those of larger than life figures, it always invokes the ‘mental stamp’ that we will remember where were we when we first heard of the news. When Princess Diana died, I got that through TV news at night when I was reading novels with TV on. 10 days later when Mother Teresa died, I was at work and got that news via CNN.com. Today, I learned Michael Jackson died on news.google.com this morning at work.

I was shock by the news. Well, that’s normal, cos he was not known with long term sickness like cancer or something. So, at the age of 50, he was reportedly died of cardio arrest. As of this moment, the exact cause of death is still pending for examination.

Michael Jackson is definitely one of my favor entertainers. His rise of fame basically took place during my teenage years. Yes, I owned a cassette of ‘Thriller’, one of the first few American pop music album that I listened to back then, along with Billy Joel’s Innocent Man album and few others. His dance move was simply amazing. I didn’t know people can dance like that with beats and rhythm. Before him, my impression of dancing to modern music was those images of folks in disco dancing along Saturday Night Fever or some ABBA’s songs. Namely, simply body swinging left and right, back and forth, nothing fancy. Michael Jackson changed all that. He even made zombie looks cool with his Thriller video. Of course, subsequent facial and skin color changes were unexpected as well. However, to audience of his performance and listener of his music, including me, those are not important stuff, let alone other allegations, or scandals of his private life. What matter to me was his performance, whether his dance move still got the groove or whether his songs still catchy, and they all did.

Well, his death became another footnote of our growth and maturity. It just reminded us that time always on the move and history has been making all along. I think artistically, Michael Jackson has done pretty much most he could. It would be close to impossible to overtake what he had done for the world of entertainment, not even by himself if he would still be alive. I think for audience like us, all we can do is to listen to his songs and watch his performance back in his hey days every now and then. For me, I will definitely show his videos to my son when he is older, to show him that there used to be a great entertainer called Michael Jackson that his dad had admired very much.

Not being nice, am I?

In most occasions, I consider myself a nice person, even to strangers. Cos, I think people should be nice to each other, so people can get along. However, in some situations, I could be mean. For example, when I receive cold calls from those salespersons who try to offer me low interest loans, or sell me phone plans etc. As they usually call me while I'm at work, I just don't bother entertain them, simply saying I'm not interested and hanged up. Sometimes, my wife would say that they are simply trying to make a living, don't be rude to them. Well, I just can't help it, I know that it is part of their job to make cold calls to strangers. In order to take such job, they should be get used to rejections. I wasn't nice in rejecting them, but I don't think I was really rude, perhaps, I simply expressed my feeling that I didn't want to be bothered.

Today, I was rejecting someone face to face. The story was that I got cold call saying that I would be offered a bottle of free red wine if I meet an agent from an insurance company for a chat in person. Yes, I admit that I was a bit greedy, though I'm not a drinker myself, in fact I still have a bottle of very nice red wine sitting in my living room for almost 4 months as a prize from my company's annual dinner. However, it wouldn't hurt to get one more for cooking or gift, knowing that the quality of such free stuff won't be good anyway. Since the meeting is at lunch time, I didn't have any appointment for lunch today anyway. So, I told the appointment to meet that agent in a big 'M' near my office.

That agent looks like he is in mid forties and is half bald. I was eating my fries and burger while he told me that he was planning to collect some data from me and do an analysis of financial situation at the spot. I did have similar encounters before, however, they were usually taking place in the branch of banks. With a nice, smiley CFP, chatting with me in a friendly way, while inputting my data on a PC or laptop. As those agents were from banks that I had relationship with, so they knew my name and some of my background. Though I didn't end up doing business with them, at least the experience was present. Well, this time was different....

This agent wasn't very friendly, not his tone, but his look and facial expression. He didn't smile or enthusiastic about approaching me. Yes, I wasn't very cooperative neither. Like when he asked me for some personal information, I said that I wanted to keep some privacy. For some information that I thought wouldn't matter to his analysis, like the gender of my kid, I simply said 'would that matter to your analysis?' I think he should be trained to handle different type of customers, including some difficult one, like me. He shouldn't expect everyone would be cooperative, consider that he was able to meet me through a cold call, rather than from some existing business relationship. However, when he took down my financial information, I saw him simply scratch some numbers on his form with bad handwriting. Many blanks were still left blank. Also, when he tried to give me some numbers, like how much I would need if I retire at 55. He pulled out a calculator of model 20 years ago and did some calculations. That looked so unprofessional to me. In these days, would he be at least using a smartphone, a netbook, or a laptop for God's sake! after about 20 minutes after I was done with my lunch.I felt that this meeting was definitely a mistake. I was disinterested, and so did he. It was an chicken and egg scenario...was he made me disinterested with his communication skill or preparation or presentation? or my reaction that made him perform badly? I wasn't sure, come to think of it, it must not be my fault.

At the end, he handed me his business card, showing that he is a CFP and was a team manager of some sort of an international reputable insurance company. Well, that didn't matter, the issue was him, nothing to do with his company, which I dealed with before in my previous job. Other folks there were very professional anyway. So, I asked him if there was any gift for the meeting. Then, he pulled out a coupon of some sort for the red wine that worth 159RMB. I said what? RMB? You wanted me to cash that coupon in China? Come on!? He said that he didn't know much about that coupon, but there was a phone number on it that I could call. Then, I told him that he could keep it, didn't bother. I didn't want it. Not planning to go to China to get a bottle of red wine. Never! So, I left.

On the way back to my office, I was thinking back that....was I being rude? He was trying to make a living only. Why did I give him a hard time? Did I?.....well, he wasn't prepared, he should present better if he wants to succeed in making a deal. Maybe, I just taught him a lesson. E.g. should be at least know something about the free gift that he would hand out to his potential client? Should he bring a laptop to run analysis rather than using an old calculator? Come on, people run software and did printing scenarios for customers. If he can't print such, should he propose to meet customers in his office or branch office to be more professional, rather than sitting in big 'M' with construction worker chatting loudly at next table while you are trying to make deal with potential customer? I don't know the answer. Maybe I'm just not his right target. Anyway.....just an encounter experience that I wanna share......

Cats

Since I was kid, I always love cats over dogs. I'd cat as pet back then. Maybe, it was because the place that I lived had rats, so it was better to have cats then dogs. Also, dogs are bigger and they need larger space which was something that we didn't have back then. If we were not cat-owners, we wouldn't know that cat also eats grass! Cos, all textbooks were saying cats eat fishes. But, cats do eat grass for their digestion. When I was a kid, the old place that lived, there were some old with a bit of wilderness. There were trees, some hills, flowers, bugs, all types wild beings. There were some strayed dogs and cats too. As the dogs were bulling the cats, kids there were usually more defendants of cats than dogs. We brought leftovers to feed them, and when we saw dogs chasing cats, we threw rocks to them to drive them away. However, we did scare of the dogs cos we all heard of rabies, little did we know that cats could have rabies as well. But, usually dogs bite people, but cats were usually more afraid of people. So, we would rather be friendly to them.

I'd not owned a cat for many many years. Cos, owning a pet is a heavy duty, though cats are relatively easy to take care of, as they often really live and taking care of themselves by themselves. You still have to feed them and do some clean up. Yes, with enough training and new technology, those tasks are now much more convenient. Still, it takes works. Sometimes, I just too lazy or busy to take care of a pet. Imagine back then when I was living alone and had to take business trip every now and then. Who would take care of a pet for me? Also, one of the reason why some people owning a pet is because they are lonely and would like companionship. For me, I wasn't and ain't definitely lonely. Also, for lonely folks, usually they would prefer dogs over cats. Cats are just too cool for their owner...actually, there is a saying that cats don't think that we are their owners, unlike dogs, though we do the same things to them: feeding them, cleaning them, give them rooms to live, etc. Dogs would think that we do that because we are their owners. But for cats, they would think that we do that because they are our masters, we are simply serving them! As an ex-cat-owner, I can see where that comes from!....

Anyhow, I'm not planning to get myself any pet any time soon. Just taking care of my kid is already a rewarding but exhausting tasks. However, I was told that it would be a nice experience to let kid to own a pet, especially for single kid. So, they would be able to learn to take on responsibilities and the matter of life and death. As pets are relatively short-lived than us (1 year of cat/dog = 7 years of human). So, let's see if I will get my son a pet some days, though it is not gonna be soon, I still would choose a cat! If I can afford one, I would love to get myself a Maine coon, if not, any kind would be fine. Well, what can I say, I just love cats!

1:1 Gundam in Odaiba, Japan

Dream come true for anyone who love RX-78 since 1979.......

My thought on iPhone Nano

Before WWDC this year, there were many rumors about what Apple will release this time. iPhone 3Gs, great! I'm gonna get it soon. Tablet? or 'iPad' or whatever you wanna call it, I think Apple will release it next year, which will become another game changer in the industry. It should be a good replacement to those oversize PMP or Kindle. But, when it comes to iPhone Nano....I just don't think it is gonna happen. Why? I read an article yesterday from PC Home, it asked a very good question: Is iPhone a PC which happens to have phone function or the other way around?

I think iPhone's name is deceiving. It is actually a 'Mac in Pocket'. Especially when it can run programs at the back while users are using for certain functions. Also, I think another hint is that the external factor of iPhone 3Gs is the SAME as previous models. It means that Apple is happy with its current format, the size, the look and all that. Well, it may be even a bit thinner in future, but I doubt it will shrink it size to make it so-called more 'convenient'. Cos, I think iPhone has already achieve its optimal size, particular the screen size. If iPhone does really wanna compete with low end low price model, the answer is already here. It reduces its price to US$99! It can compete in price if it can keep its costs down and maintain reasonable profit margin. Hence, there is no need to compete by making a scale back, subpar model. Instead, iPhone is improving itself inside - more memory, faster chip, video capturing, etc. These are largely internal. Well, I'm sure down the road, it will still make certain physical changes, such as a front camera, or a standard USB plug. However, I think that's about it. Let alone those change in color, case materials switching from plastic to metal to alloy to plastic again...

Well, that's just my thought for now. Based on my records of prediction...don't bet on mine! ha ha!!

Lakers - NBA Champion of 2009

Well, my previous predictions about the playoff results are all wrong. I'm fine with that cos that is the fun part about following up sports. Lakers finally bit Magic by 4-1 to win the series. Kobe Bryant, as the closest resemble of MJ, got it done thsi time, learning from last year against the Celtics. Well, Magic is no Celtics who are much more seasoned and experienced. Anyway, Phil Jackson won his 10th rings which is amazing. Well, haters can say all the want, but a fact is a fact, he is legendary coach of basketball, that's something can't be denied.

There are a lot of what ifs....like Yao didn't get hurt, KG didn't get hurt, etc. I think it is just better to wait till next season. I'm still rooting for the Celtics and Rockets. Hopefully, they can do better next year. For this year, the season and playoff are over. Kobe and his gangs are gonna meet Obama later this year. Good for them.

Terminator Salvation

Just came back from the movie. To be honest, I enjoy this movie very much, perhaps because I had a relatively low expectation coming into it after hearing some critics on this movie. Actually, I think the critics got their points, such as....'Oh the movie is not fun...no humor...unlike to previous 3...','oh...Christian Bale didn't act much...','how can John Connor have an open heart surgery in the middle of the desert?', or 'how come the T-800s are so dumb? They only push human around? etc' Well, I think all of these are just 'trying to find bones in an egg', if u know what I mean?

As a new series, the Terminator chronicles enter a new phase. After Judgement day, lives are bleak, less humor is fine. Also, the story itself is ok too. You can't expect too much from these. I think it will be better in future sequels once they can start playing with the time machine. The action pieces of the movie are quite good. Acting are decent, Sam Worthington is definitely an actor to watch. He stole the movie I think. The little girl called Star in the movie looks really like a kiddy Janet Jackson. Also, the director McG did a good job to pay homage to the old series, like the 'money' lines: "Come with me if you want to live", and "I'll be back!" are there, also even the Guns'n Roses' You could be Mine' were in the movie as well. That's what I notice. Certainly, the CG Arnold was decent, I think the movie is good, actually a must see in cinema.

The next one that I'm looking forward is the sequel of Transformers. I hope I want be disappointed. My only concern would be the action pieces will be too fast to tell what is going on. Cos, the robots in action with explosion and dusts. Maybe hard to follow, let's see if that will be a problem. Stay tune.....

Latest Personal Happenings - Jun 09

I’ve not been actively updated my blog as much as I used to. I think it has a lot to do with how busy or lazy I am lately. I like to keep my blog up with good content, rather than simply jogging down mumbo jumbo.

So, what have caught my attention lately (not in any order of importance)?

1. iPhone 3G s release – Finally! The wait is over, I’m going to get one as soon as I can get a hand of it. In view of my current financial condition and my working/family lifestyle, I think this is the only gadget I’m gonna invest in it. I’m gonna get the 32GB one, so my current 30GB iPod Classic can be replaced. Though I would like to have much higher capacity, I can only get what is available. Also, my Samsung AnyCall can retire too. With the iPhone, I think my personal matters can be managed better, as least I won’t forget dates or events. Certainly, with internet access on the go, it would be very nice!

2. More Shoppings – I bought a nice expensive Panasonic Rice Cooker which is Made in Japan (a rarity these days) and a relatively expensive non-sticky frying pan this week. My wife asked me why I bought such expensive items. I think I’m frugal in many senses, but not often on durable goods. Just hope they will last long.

3. Wardrobe Shuffling – I don’t like clothes shopping much. Lately, I did go to buy some new clothes recently in M&S and Uniqiuo. I do feel good to have some new clothes on. The bottomline is that my closet is way to small, and that really put me off from buying new clothes. I think I would need to clean that up somehow in one of the upcoming weekends out of necessity.

4. Movie going – I’ve not gone to movie since viewing ‘Departure’ few months back. Squeezing time to go to movie is just tough for me, I’m not confident that I can find time to go to Terminator Salvation. However, I would try my best to go to Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen. Cos, I listened to the theme song of that movie from Linkin Park, I like it a lot. Also, this movie should be seen in cinema, IMAX would be perfect, but definitely not at home.

5. My son – we are still struggling to get him to eat more and to learn de-diapering. Besides these 2 matters, actually, my son is fine overall. Sure, he has already shows his bad temper, but I would say that is still manageable to can be understood as part of his growth. I hope he can improve on those 2 aspects in coming months before he attends nursery. Also, he is very shy with strangers and struggling with stairs. Well, I guess most parents have gone through similar things more or less. So, just need to take it one step at a time.

6. Strange Dream – well, I had a dream last night that involved President Obama, Michelle Obama, Predators, my old colleagues, some local politicians, snakes, a bus stop, and a jungle. How strange huh?

As the Dollar Falls Off the Cliff ...

Just read a great article from Counterpunch.org , I just wanna share with you all. However, upon reading that, my question is....what should we do? Convert all our USD denominated assets into another currency? if so, which one? and When?

Here you go the piece...

Policymakers Have Created a Perfect Storm
As the Dollar Falls Off the Cliff ...
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Economic news remains focused on banks and housing, while the threat mounts to the US dollar from massive federal budget deficits in fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

Earlier this year the dollar’s exchange value rose against currencies, such as the euro. UK pound, and Swiss franc, against which the dollar had been steadily falling. The dollar’s rise made US policymakers complacent, even though the rise was due to flight from over-leveraged financial instruments and falling stock markets into “safe” Treasuries. Since April, however, the dollar has steadily declined as investors and foreign central banks realize that the massive federal budget deficits are likely to be monetized.

What happens to the dollar will be the key driver of what lies ahead. The likely scenario could be nasty.

America’s trading partners do not have large enough trade surpluses to finance a federal budget deficit swollen to $2 trillion by gratuitous wars, recession, bailouts, and stimulus programs. Moreover, concern over the dollar’s future is causing America’s foreign creditors to seek alternatives to US debt in which to hold their foreign reserves.

According to a recent report in the online edition of Pravda, Russia’s central bank now holds a larger proportion of its reserves in euros than in US dollars. On May 18 the Financial Times reported that China and Brazil are considering bypassing the dollar and conducting their mutual trade in their own currencies. Other reports say that China has increased its gold reserves by 75 per cent in recent years.

China’s premier, Wen Jiabao, has publicly expressed his concern about the future of the dollar. Arrogant, hubris-filled American officials and their yes-men economists discount Chinese warnings, arguing that the Chinese have no choice but to support the dollar by purchasing Washington’s red ink. Otherwise, they say, China stands to lose the value of its large dollar portfolio.

China sees it differently. It is obvious to Chinese officials that neither China nor the entire world has enough spare money to purchase $4 trillion of US Treasuries over the next two years. According to the London Telegraph on May 27, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank president Richard Fisher was repeatedly grilled by senior officials of the Chinese government during his recent visit about whether the Federal Reserve was going to finance the US budget deficit by printing money. According to Fisher, “I must have been asked about that a hundred times in China. I was asked at every single meeting about our purchases of Treasuries. That seemed to be the principal preoccupation of those that were invested with their surpluses mostly in the United States.”

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has gone to China to calm the fears. However, even before he arrived, a Chinese central bank spokesman gave Geithner the message that the US should not assume China will continue to finance Washington’s extravagant budgets. The governor of China’s central bank is calling for the abandonment of the dollar as reserve currency, using the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights in its place.

President Lyndon Johnson’s “guns and butter” policy during the 1960s forced president Richard Nixon to eliminate the gold backing that the dollar had as world reserve currency, putting foreign central banks on the same fiat money standard as the US economy. In its first four months, the Obama administration has outdone president Johnson. Instead of ending war, Obama has expanded America’s war of aggression in Afghanistan and spread it into Pakistan. War, bailouts, and stimulus plans have pushed the government’s annual operating budget 50 per cent into the red.

Washington’s financial irresponsibility has brought pressure on the dollar and the US bond market. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke thought he could push down interest rates on Treasuries by purchasing $300 billion of them. However, the result was to cause a sharp drop in Treasury prices and a rise in interest rates.

As monetization of federal debt goes forward, US interest rates will continue to rise, worsening the problems in the real estate sector. The dollar will continue to lose value, making it harder for the US to finance its budget and trade deficits. Domestic inflation will raise its ugly head despite high unemployment.

The incompetents who manage US economic policy have created a perfect storm.

The Obama-Federal Reserve-Wall Street plan for the US to spend its way out of its problems is coming unglued. The reckless spending is pushing the dollar down and interest rates up.

Every sector of the US economy is in trouble. Former US manufacturing firms have been turned into marketing companies trying to sell their foreign-made goods to domestic consumers who have seen their jobs be moved offshore. Much of what is left of US manufacturing--the auto industry--is in bankruptcy. More decline awaits housing and commercial real estate. The dollar is sliding, and interest rates are rising, despite the Federal Reserve’s attempts to hold interest rates down.

When the Reagan administration cured stagflation, the result was a secular bull-market in US Treasuries that lasted 28 years. That bull market is over. Americans’ living standards are headed down. The American standard of living has been destroyed by wars, by offshoring of jobs, by financial deregulation, by trillion dollar handouts to financial gangsters who have, so far, destroyed half of Americans’ retirement savings, and by the monetization of debt.

The next shoe to drop will be the dollar’s loss of the reserve currency role. Then the US, an import-dependent country, will no longer be able to pay for its imports. Shortages will worsen price inflation and disrupt deliveries.

Life for most Americans will become truly stressful.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

20 Years Anniversary

With so much 'noise' in the media in recent weeks about what did happen or did not happen 20 years ago, only if the 'noise makers' have lost their memory, otherwise, the best way to find out the truth, besides going to Youtube to see for yourself, you should pay attention to what those 'noise makers' are doing these days before you make up your mind on whether they are telling truth or not.....

"沒有利益的包袱，人的良知得以完整發揮"

Learning lesson redux

Being a parent is an non-replaceable experience. When I see what my son is going through, what he is doing and all that, I often try to understand why he did certain things. That trigger my chain of thoughts on how we human learn things. For example, my son sometimes just looks up above while he is walking forward. Of course, we will tell him not to. Cos, he may step on things or bump into things and get hurt. However, why he does that? My guess is that it is sometimes visually entertaining for him doing that. Cos, if there are lights above, or there are some graphic patterns on the ceiling, they look different or they change when you move. That's an interesting experience for him. I guess that's why he did that.

Last night, while my wife, my son and I were waiting for an elevator, there were an old couple waiting there as well. They were trying to talk to my son, but my son was so shy that he simply looked down on the floor. We were teasing him and we even bent down to see his face. We found that he was very funny for being so shy. He didn't talk, not even making a move. That's kinda strange for a kid this young. Come to think of it, why he behaved like that? Was he not shy, but scare? Why looking down and standing still, but not crying or running away? Yes, I was holding his hand at that time, but he could still try to struggle and pull away. Why he didn't do that? My guess is that for me and my wife being there gave him certain level of comfort. The old couple didn't move either, so they weren't threatening. He looked down to avoid eye contact. That's one way of escapism. Looking down on the floor which was something that not moving or threatening. However, it is all guesses in my mind. Nonetheless, analyzing his behaviors are just fun.

Certainly, when he grows older, as he will have more information in his head and his verbal ability improves, I can ask more 'why' to him directly and get answer. For now, I just can only guess.

Our 15 minutes in Toy's Rus

Yesterday was a nice family day for me. My wife and I took our son to a park for a walk, and then we went to a shopping mall nearby for lunch. Things were so far so good. We enjoyed time very much. My son is about 20 months old. He is very cute and quite curious of the world of course. Then, we stopped by the Toy's Rus store and here it go...

There were sound making by many toys. There were kids of different ages running around. There were stacks of colorful boxes in aisles after aisles. My son like us to hold him in our our arms, being lazy to walk in many cases and places. But, not there! Once we put him on the floor, he was just walking around on his own, looking at boxes of toys. Pushing those even bigger than his size. Touched this and that. When we took him to the Lego and cars section, he was just running wild. I was trying to choose a toy for him, while my wife was taking care of him, I supposed, she just called my up loud with a smile and said: "hey, come on and look! You son is out of control!". He just picked up boxes of cars, trucks, vans, buses and handle them to my wife. I was busily put them back on the shelves. She then asked me: "Why he keep hand over those boxes to me? Does he want me to buy them?". I said:"No, he doesn't have the concept of buying yet. He just showed you the boxes and want you to have a look, saying that he recognizes what it is in the boxes, that's all!"

Of coursed, we ended up getting him, a van, a double-deck bus, and a Lego mobile. While waiting in the checkout line, I told my wife to look around at the behavior of other kids there. Simply based on our son's behavior there, I said:"Look, that's his future behavior!" My wife was so surprise of our son's reaction of being there. I said: "He just acted like you when you are in Zara!" The funny thing was that when my son wanted me to put him on the floor, I just hold him tight and say "pa pa loved to hug you in my arms!" and took him out of that place!

Nonetheless, I'm just that we will be back! Because he will make us to!......