The Cawley Team.

My wife, Syahidah remarked today on the curiously complementary dissimilarity, of our three sons. They each have a different skillset and even mindset.

“I have realized that our boys each have different strengths,”, she began with an engaged smile. “There is Ainan, the ideas man; Fintan, the businessman and Tiarnan, the engineer.”

“They should start a tech company together, their skills blend perfectly for the task.”, I observed.

Syahidah agreed.

“In fact, that is one type of person Ainan approves of...the heads and founders of science and tech corporations...maybe he will be one, one day, working with his brothers.”

Privately I thought of another set of three brothers who worked together to form a company: the Abdul Halim brothers, known as “KRU”, behind Kru Studios – a film production company in Malaysia. One brother, Norman Abdul Halim is the finance man, as I understand it – the businessman; another Edry Abdul Halim is a Director with strengths in musical composition and Yusry Abdul Halim who is a Director with a Visual Effects background. They each bring a different skill profile to the task. So, there certainly are some brothers who do blend their skills to build companies.

The thing about the differing skills and minds of our three sons, is that each is uncanny in their own way – but those ways are so different from each other, that it is a wonder they could be brothers, at all. They each have a different way of thinking, a different set of primary strengths and their own way of looking at the world. It seems that the process of genetic inheritance of mental attributes is complex indeed, and may give rise to immense variation – at least, perhaps, from parents who themselves show immense variation and breadth in their skillsets.

So, I wonder whether they will team up, one day and work together, our little ideas man, our little businessman and our little engineer. If they do, what will they create? What world will they usher in, together?

I hope I am around to see. It would be sweet if they do work together. Too many families don’t know how to do that and I feel that the families which do, are stronger for it and more successful, ultimately. I hope that the family I have created is one of them.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The deepest wish for the future.

To have children, is to be a watcher of the future. To look on them, is to wonder what they might become, one day and to feel a duty to guide them or empower them , to be whatever they truly wish.

A couple of days ago, my wife Syahidah looked at me across the dining table.

“I hope our kids grow to be as patient as you.”, she began, her eyes looking deeply across the table and into the future, at the same time.

I was pleased to hear that implicit compliment.

“...and as tidy as me.”, she said, with a meaningful gaze.

I wasn’t so pleased to hear that implicit criticism!

I laughed though. “That is just like something Fintan might say.”

She smiled her agreement.

We see each other, in each other, every day, in ways little and large. Her remark had the comic structure of Fintan’s utterances – and no doubt, his had that structure, because of her. I felt the invisible bonds of like mindedness joining us, in that moment. We are each a part of the other, a partial reflection of each other. This is a fact of all families – but one too often not fully understood I feel. Every one of our children is a part of us, us a part of them. In their minds are thoughts we would recognize as like our own, feelings too, that we know so well.

I like this togetherness. It is what makes a family feel so different from any other random group of people known to each other. We are not just known to each other – we are like each other, fashioned from the very same cognitive and affective substance.

It is interesting to look at our children and see which elements of them come from my wife and which from myself. It is not difficult to see the jigsaw puzzle that they are, as a rearrangement of components within ourselves.

Considering her wish, I would say I have to agree. I hope they have my patience and her tidiness – the other way around just would not do at all!

One day, we will know. I look forward to that day and all the others, in which my children are becoming. It is a story of infinite richness, written before my eyes, daily. It is also a story I cannot, now, imagine, ever having missed.

Here’s to a patient and tidy future!

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Syahidah on Steve Jobs' death.

Today, I informed Syahidah, my wife, of Steve Jobs' death.

She remarked: "An apple has lost its core."

I thought this rather witty, and apt - for the image and meaning summed up the situation very well.

Mr. Jobs was only 56. This is rather young to be dying in the modern age - however, his life, though shortened, could not have been more influential, nor have touched more lives than it had. RIP Mr. Apple.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

A memory of childhood.

A few weeks ago, my wife, Syahidah, was reminiscing.

“One day, when I was nine years old, I came to understand something: as an adult, you have a choice. I wanted to remember this, when I grew up, so I said to myself: remember this – as an adult you have a choice.”

Her gaze was curiously inward and a little fond, as if touched by the little girl she had been.

“Well, you did remember.”

“Yes.”, she said quietly, pleased.

I was touched by this account. It was a sweet notion, that the little girl she had been, should try to communicate with the adult she was to become, by deliberately seeking to remember an insight she had had, into adulthood. It struck me as quite a mature thing to do for the little girl she had been. It meant that she understood the unfolding of life and what she would one day become. It also meant that she felt a need to speak to her older self, when she was no longer around to be able to do so. It meant she sought a sense of continuity between the present, that would one day be past, and the future that had not yet become.

Syahidah grew a little rueful beside me, as she dwelt on her younger self’s thought.

“Of course, when you become an adult, you realize that it is sometimes a little more complicated than that.”, she observed, cryptically.

“Yes. Sometimes. There are obligations.”

We agreed, in silence – but also, I think, in appreciation of the child she had been and the wisdom she had shown to understand that quintessential difference between a child’s life and an adult’s life – but also to have wished to communicate it, to her older self.

I had never met the child she had been – but I felt then, that she had been an impressive one, in a way, for she was, even when so young, seeking to understand what life was and how it is lived, at different ages. My wife would have been an interesting child to speak to, I think. Then, again, no doubt that is why she became an interesting adult to speak to!

It is funny to consider it but I feel this tale of my wife’s brought her younger self into the room with us, as if she did, in fact, manage to speak to the future: I felt her presence, on my wife’s tongue, in my wife’s eyes and in the expression on her face. My wife’s nine year old self had succeeded in bridging time, to speak with us, across all those years. She had, in fact, spoken to the husband she could never have guessed she would one day meet. How strange -and how touching. There was a depth to that moment, that reached back across the decades to a little girl, who no longer was, and a thought that had endured.

Thank you, Syahidah, for sharing that moment. It brought your childhood alive, for me. I glimpsed who you had been and sensed the wisdom you had, even then. Thanks.

Posted by Valentine Cawley.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Syahidah on motherhood.

Pithiness is a gift: the ability to capture something of life, in a simple phrase. My wife, Syahidah has a tendency to make pithy remarks. Quite often they are whimsical, too, but not always.

A couple of weeks ago, Syahidah was reflecting on motherhood.

She observed: “The best mummies in the world are guilty mummies – they always feel they don’t do enough.”

I was, struck, at once by two things: the motivational truth of this view – and the fact that, it seemed most clear, to me, that this statement would apply to Syahidah herself (even if she wouldn’t label herself in such a way).

Syahidah is a good mummy. One need only look at her kids for a while to realize this. I think her remark embodied her own motivations. There is, it seems, a guilt within her, driving her to do ever more and be an ever better mummy to her kids. Of course, the sad part about this, is that she most probably never allows herself to believe that she has done enough or done it “right”. She will always believe she could have done better or done more. Yet, I think, that is a more productive attitude, than self-satisfaction – even if it is not so easy on the heart.

Thank you, Syahidah for being the mummy you are to our sons.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.htmland here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The price of agelessness.

Everyone would like to be ageless – or so they might think to themselves. However, agelessness comes at a price.

Now, anyone who has ever viewed a photograph of my wife, Syahidah, cannot but be struck by how young she seems. Yet, she is much older than people think. The fact is, though, that she hasn’t aged since I met her: she got stuck in her late teens and seems essentially unchanged, since then. Fourteen years have passed, since we met but not one of those years appears on her face or body. It is as if she were a latter day Dorian Gray (though without the dissolute behaviour!)

Of course, this strange stasis leads to much confusion.

A few days ago, Syahidah took her three sons, Ainan, 11, Fintan, 8 and Tiarnan, 5, to the cinema to see the latest Transformers film, Dark of the Moon.

As she queued up to buy the tickets, Syahidah overheard an enthusiastic voice behind her –
“Look at her! Isn’t she a good sister, to be taking her brothers to the cinema!”

A quick look around revealed no-one else but Syahidah who could be described as a “sister” with her “brothers”.

Syahidah was too embarrassed for words, even though this kind of comment had been heard before.

She bought the tickets and took her “brothers” into the film.

It would be funny, were it not the source of much puzzlement on the part of others. You see, those fourteen years have seen me change, whilst Syahidah has stood still. So, now, the apparent age gap between us seems greater than it was, when we first met – yet, of course, it is the same, to the very day. What makes this situation more acute, is that it is Asians who judge Syahidah to be so young. How young would she seem to Caucasian eyes? No-one but myself and her immediate family know the truth: that Syahidah stopped any outward aging, in her late teens and looks the same now, as she did then. Yet, people who see her now, mentally subtract the age of her children, from her, now, and conclude that she must have looked much younger in the past: not so. She looked the same when I met her, as she does now. I can’t help but wonder what strange things people think, when they appraise her present appearance and make such age calculations. They have no idea how wrong they are.

Of course, I do wonder how long Syahidah will maintain this stasis of appearance. Her great grandfather was famous for not having aged much (relatively speaking, that is) – despite reaching 104. So, it seems, she takes after him. If this carries on, the day might come in thirty years time, when people think she is my granddaughter!

I am left to wonder how much our sons will inherit this curious attribute: are they going to be seemingly ageless, too? Will they look like spritely teenagers, well into their thirties? How odd it would be, for them, if this turns out to be so. We shall see.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.htmland here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Syahidah communicates with children.

Syahidah, my wife, has an interesting way with children. Somehow, she just knows what to say, to connect with them, in their world. In short, she “speaks their language”.

Yesterday, Tiarnan, five, hadn’t quite finished up his dinner. Perhaps he was full – or perhaps he was distracted. (He is the type to find his imagination more interesting, than what is happening in his immediate surroundings, at times).

Syahidah looked down at her smallest son and said, seriously:

“Eat up your carrots.”

Tiarnan listened, but only because it was his mummy speaking.

“Carrots are good for your eyes.”, she continued, “That is why you don’t see rabbits wearing spectacles.”

I laughed explosively on hearing this. Tiarnan didn't. He maintained a serious demeanour. It was clear that he considered this a fair point, having two rabbits in the house and neither sporting a pair of spectacles.

He ate his carrots.

I thought this a wonderful example of how Syahidah always knows just what to say, to a child, to get them to understand her point. In a way, this is a gift, a communicative gift – and one that is not that common, unfortunately, among adults, or even parents. With most people, we grow too far from our own childhoods, to readily connect to those in theirs. Not so with Syahidah: for her, childhood is very close to the surface and readily reachable. She remembers it well and so can relate to children in a way few can. I think my sons are lucky to have her as their mummy – and I am lucky to have her as my wife!

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.htmland here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Of Hell and the Afterlife.

A few days ago, Tiarnan asked an unexpected question, his face a wonder of utmost seriousness.

“Is there a planet called Hell?”, he enquired of his mother.

Before she could answer, mired as she was in surprise, since we had never spoken of Hell to him, he posed another question:

“Do people go there to burn after they die?”

Now, she felt she had to answer. “Hell is for bad people, when they die, Tiarnan. Are you bad?”

He shook his head slowly, perhaps contemplating the fate of bad people as he did so.
“No.”, reassured Syahidah, “You are a good boy – and if you stay a good boy you won’t be going to Hell.”

He seemed a little relieved to hear this and managed to relax.

It was time, then for us to reflect. Clearly, someone at his school had been talking about Hell to him: was it a teacher, or a fellow kindergartner? If it was his teacher, I do feel that this is a little too much religious intrusion into the classroom, since each child will come from a family of different beliefs or lack of beliefs. If it was a fellow kindergartner, I do wonder at why a fellow five year old’s head has been filled with such fears as burning in the fires of hell for eternity. I really think that little children should not be given such stuff of nightmares to dwell on. Perhaps it is a means to control the behaviour of a particular child – well, there are wiser ways, like simply talking to them, and reasoning with them.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html

and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks. You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The effect of passion.

The other day, my wife and I were talking about Art and artists. We have recently been visiting galleries in Kuala Lumpur and it is a pleasant surprise to us, to have learnt that there are many private galleries in this capital city. Indeed, some areas like Solaris Dutamas, look set to become art hubs, with a wide variety of Art offerings.

In the course of this conversation, she expressed her own personal understanding of the motivation which drives artists: "Without passion there would be no beauty.", she observed. For Syahidah, an artist without emotion, is an impossibility. She sees artists as being driven by their feelings to create. Of course, in seeing artists this way, she is most probably speaking of her own motivations to create Art. For Syahidah, it is passion for life, for Art, for feeling, for people, for things, for achievement, that spurs artists to create: the concrete objects that result are solidifications of human feelings. For her, all man-made beauty, begins in the Heart.

I find her outlook interesting as a counterpoint to the scientific currents running through the family. For Ainan, for instance, beauty emerges from THOUGHT. For him, a certain type of thought is inherently beautiful. In the past, he has expressed what seem to be aesthetic reactions to thoughts and ideas. How funny, therefore, to see this contrast to Syahidah's outlook on beauty.

However, that is not to say that Ainan does not appreciate Art: he does - it is just that I think his way of doing so, is different in key ways to his mother's. He is looking for other things and seeing Art in a different way from her - though perhaps some of Syahidah's outlook has informed his reactions to scientific beauty.

Syahidah sees beauty as a product of feeling. Ainan sees beauty as a product of thought. I rather stand between them, and see both types of beauty in the world, in art and in literature.

Syahidah's remark may have broader applicability than she might have noted. It may be that no creativity, whether it be in the realm of beauty, or not, might be possible without passion of a kind. Perhaps, therefore, the whole human world owes itself to that feeling. It is a pity, then, that so many people seem to lack it.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks. You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The Right Stuff.

Sometimes, character is more important than anything else.

Over a week ago, Fintan went running with his mother, Syahidah. Now, as most regular readers will know, my wife is a rather athletic woman: she simply breathes physical exertion and has a love of challenging sporting activities that would just intimidate most people.

So, Syahidah ran alongside Fintan, rather amiably. It was a run around our neighbourhood, on the street in the early evening, as the sky began to take on a pink tinge. It was pleasant, as most evenings are, around here. She was enjoying her companionable run beside her seven year old son. He began to pull ahead of her, somewhat, but she wasn’t concerned that he had any chance of winning – for there was something she rather thought he was not considering: eventually they would have to run uphill. At that point, she expected Fintan to slow down and her to catch up and overtake him.

She jogged on, for some minutes. As they rounded a corner in the street and began the uphill climb home, Fintan did, indeed, begin to slow down. Running uphill is a big enough challenge for a seasoned adult –but, for a young boy, it was certainly quite an effort.

Syahidah smiled to herself, inwardly. Now, she was going to overtake him.

At this moment, Fintan did something unexpected. He suddenly started to pump his legs faster and faster, leaping forward UP the hill, as if it wasn’t really there. He raced ahead. Syahidah tried to catch him, but simply couldn’t match his pace. He was off, leaving her trailing in the distance.

I was waiting in front of our house, for their return. Fintan came rushing around the corner, racing towards me with a grin.

At last, he stood before me, curiously, not breathing heavily at all – or at least not noticeably.

I looked at my phone’s clock.

“Seven minutes.”, I told him.

He considered the number. By itself it meant nothing, however, allied with another fact, it had potent meaning.

“You beat mummy.”, I said, with gentle approval. “Well done.”

“When my legs began to burn, then I began to run faster!”, he explained.

I found myself laughing. “You ran FASTER when your legs began to burn?!”.

“Yes.” He said, perhaps a little amused at himself.

“That, Fintan, is when most people would stop running.”

A minute later, Syahidah arrived. “Eight minutes.”, I told her.

Her eyes appraised Fintan. Her face still held a lingering surprise that he had beaten her.

“He ran faster when his legs began to burn.”, I told her.

“He is crazy! That is when people collapse.”

My seven year old son, Fintan, had trounced his athletic mum, in a race. Yet, it was not his body that had won, with its smaller, shorter legs and restricted pace, compared to hers. No. It was his WILL that had won. Fintan had pushed his body, to greater exertion, precisely when most people would have given up the race. When his legs began to complain of the effort, that was the moment when he demanded more of them. To my understanding, this is very significant. It shows what kind of character Fintan has. When the situation becomes more difficult, when his body complains of the effort, that is precisely when he will make his greatest effort. Fintan will not allow himself to be defeated by the mere limits of his body. His strength of will, allows him to overcome such limits, to push his body beyond what others might have thought possible for a seven year old to accomplish.

I am pleased to see this characteristic in Fintan. I believe it will enable him to do difficult things, to overcome challenges others would simply give up on, once they realize their innate difficulty. He is only seven, yet he is already a higher performing athlete than his mother, when he chooses to be. That is certainly unexpected, given what I know of Syahidah’s capabilities in such areas.

I am reminded of the day he went rock climbing, and the way he flung himself through the air, from handhold to handhold, seemingly unconcerned and unmindful of the fall beneath him. He fairly ran up the rock face, as if it were no challenge at all, overcoming it in a state of delight. It seems, very much, that Fintan not only does not shirk from physical challenges, but relishes them. He thinks it is fun, to push the body to its limits and do things that seem quite unreasonable. I wonder where this will take him? One thing is for sure: he definitely has the “Right Stuff.”

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

A belated Happy Valentine's Day, 2011.

I would like to wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day, if belatedly. I didn’t find time on the 14th February to post this, since it was, as many of you know, my birthday, too, and I was rather busy.

I hope you all had a great day, whether you celebrated it, or not. As for me, I am now officially one year older.

Some might be curious about what Tiarnan actually bought me for my birthday, after his urging for Transformers. In the end, he chose something more to my taste, if a little cheeky: a little book of quotations, on getting old! It was his own choice, not prompted by his mother. He just seemed to find it apt, for Daddy, “This is about birthdays.”, he concluded, “Daddy will like it.”

I do like it. Even if it is a reminder of the paucity of birthdays we all face (presently, anyway).

Thank you Tiarnan, for your surprising gift. Thanks to my other boys and my wife, too, for making my birthday a memorable one. In particular, I am pleased about the African restaurant Syahidah proposed – where I managed to have a truly unique meal, eating foods I have never eaten before. That is a memory I shall never forget.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Sensitivity in a child.

Fintan is a sensitive boy. He notices matters of feeling where others would see and feel nothing at all. This receptiveness complements, nicely, his adeptness in social skills – indeed, the two seem closely related, to me.

Long ago, so long that I cannot place a time on it (though I will consult with my wife and see if we can pin it down), Fintan was listening to his mother sing songs, to him, one night.

“Mummy,”, he said, his serious voice emerging from the darkness, “Why do you sing sad songs, at night?”

Syahidah was taken aback. “No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”, he said, still serious, indeed, somewhat saddened, it seemed. “Rock a bye baby is a sad song, because the baby falls down.”

He had a point. Syahidah fell silent and decided not to sing that song. I don’t know whether she ever sang it again.

This exchange is so characteristic of Fintan. To my mind, there is a great sweetness in being able to perceive, as Fintan does, the tragedy in a lullaby, or the underlying emotions in any social situation, whether personally witnessed, or described to him, in a story or on a TV: Fintan always sees the feelings at work – and the meanings of it in terms of emotional values.

It occurs to me that these are the kinds of perceptions and skills that no school ever teaches. Indeed, they would probably go unappreciated in any school in the world. No-one cares too much for feeling or its perception. Yet, in truth, such perceptions are of great value: they are what guide us in our relations with the world and they are that on which many a work of art, in any media, is founded. For Fintan to see the world in this way, is a blessing that, I hope, he will fully appreciate when he grows up. The question is: will the world appreciate this gift, in him, or overlook it? Will the wonder why he is moved, when he is so? Will people think him overly sensitive? Will they regard that as an asset, or a burden?

Whatever the world might think of Fintan’s ways, I know him to be blessed. For Fintan sees emotional riches in the world that others cannot see at all. That means that Fintan’s world is more alive, more layered and more meaningful than the world of those who do not see, as he does. That can only be a good thing.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html
and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Super sensory perception

Sometimes, I wonder what I miss in the world. You see, my wife, Syahidah, in particular, notices things I do not, sees things I do not see, hears things I do not hear, smells things I cannot smell. She is gifted in sensory terms in a way that seems, at times, to be almost miraculous. That is, to one who could never perceive what she does so readily, it does seem like a miracle. She often reminds me, simply by perceiving the world, that the world I see, is not all that there is to see.

A few days ago, we were out, at night. I stood by the roadside, with the cars rumbling past and she stood on the pavement, about one and a half to two metres away (I had just turned back to speak with her, whilst approaching the road). There was quite a bit of background noise and conversation required acute attention to each other’s voices.

“Why don’t you check out that Korean restaurant – and get a menu?”, she asked, looking hungrily across the street, for Syahidah is a bit of a foodie.

I took a couple of steps into the road, for it was free of traffic, at that moment, so I was, by now, perhaps three metres away from Syahidah.

“Is that your phone?”, she called after me.

I stopped and listened and heard nothing.

I reached my hand into my pocket and my phone did, indeed, seem a little agitated.

I pulled it out. Sure enough, someone was calling me. As I answered, I had one thought in my head, which I said aloud to Syahidah, before I turned my attention to the caller:“How did you hear that?”, I asked her, with a raised voice – for such a voice was necessary, I thought, for a normal person to hear me, at that distance, and with that background noise.

She shrugged, having no answer, or explanation herself. She just heard it, that is all.

As my call proceeded, my mind was half on Syahidah’s miraculous hearing.

Think about it: my ear was about 1 metre from the phone. Hers was about two and a half to three metres away. Given that the sound energy intensity will decline by an inverse power square law – that is it will be proportional to 1/distance squared, the sound intensity at her position would have been about 1/6 to 1/9 of what it was for me. Yet she had heard it and I had not. That means that her hearing, at the frequency of the phone ring, is at least around 6 to 10 times more acute than mine. I find that quite startling.

She often tells me of noises I have not heard, of people approaching or things happening, that are too far for me to be able to perceive – yet she is right, every time. She will hear the voices of people in the street at night, far from our house, long before they are near enough for me to hear. Her perceptual range is thus far greater than my own.

Now you should note that my own senses are not in deficit: I see, hear, taste and smell just fine. It is that her senses are more sensitive than is normal. At least, her hearing and smell, in particular, are.

Observing her perceiving the world is a bit humbling. For she tells me, just by her effortless perception, that my world, the one I sense, it is not as rich as hers: she hears softer sounds, smells fainter smells, notes things at greater distances and senses an altogether greater variety of things, than I am able to. We live in the same world, supposedly – but, in a way, I know that is not true: for her world is in “higher definition” than mine. Indeed, her world might be said to be HD colour TV – and mine no more than an old fashioned low definition black and white TV. That would seem a fair comparison given how much more sensitive her senses are, than mine.

I wonder, now, what effect having such a mother, has on the senses of my children. I do not know enough, yet, about how they perceive the world, to know if they have inherited her greater acuity of sense perception. I hope so. For if they have, they will see a richer world, for the duration of their lives, than I know – and I would be happy for them, if that were so.

I shall endeavour to observe what they perceive and so come to a better understanding of just what their threshold of perception might be. I already have hints that they may have better senses than one might expect. Future posts will report my observations.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

What makes my wife, the way she is.

My wife, Syahidah, has her own way of expressing herself. I have been charmed by this, since the very first day we met. She has the habit of coming out with observations which, though surprising, in a way, have their own inner logic and wisdom, though some of them are, I must say, pure whimsy.

In this blog I have essentially focussed on what my children have to say about the world - but I have realized that perhaps I should include some of my wife's remarks, soon after she makes them.

A couple days ago, we sat together, of an evening, after the kids had gone to bed, watching a film together. She turned to me, at one moment, and opined: "It is impossible to walk, when you are in love." (said on 8th August 2010)

Her words struck me as both true, and expressive of what it is, to love. Her utterance reminded me, then, of our earlier days together, when she was always coming out with her wise little thoughts. It made me smile, inwardly.

I too, have been one who cannot walk...and Syahidah was the cause. Thank you dear, for expressing it so well.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

IMDB starmeter popularity changes.

IMDB Starmeter measures the degree of interest, in any person on its database, by the number of visitors each entry receives. By this measure, something strange has happened in the last week.

Today, my IMDB meter says it is "down 4%" on last week. Ainan's IMDB starmeter, is "up 7%" and my wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley's IMDB starmeter is "up 88%". Now, I must confess I don't understand how such a strange set of popularity changes could have occurred: what event, unknown to us, in the world, has caused Syahidah's popularity to rocket...but that of her husband and son to remain essentially unchanged? The thing is, I know of nothing, in which only Syahidah would have been mentioned, that has happened in the last week.

So, even though IMDB reveals changes in popularity, it doesn't, necessarily identify the reasons for those changes. In the last week, something has happened, to make large numbers of people - almost twice the previous week's tally - to check Syahidah's IMDB page. What could it be? What has focussed attention on her, but not on her son, or her husband?

I have no idea. If you do, please let me know in the comments below, what unknown event has caused this change. It must be something that acts differently on each of us.

I ask, for one reason: usually I can guess the causes of changes of IMDB starmeter rankings - for I am usually aware of some corresponding event, be it news article or tv show. This week, however, I have no idea: so do let me know, if you do.

Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The tale of the exploding shoes.

Sometimes, ordinary things are very humbling. At the weekend, for instance, I went jogging with my wife, for the first time in years. It showed...but not in the way you might expect.

As we were leaving to go for a run, I had the problem of what shoes to wear. I reached for a pair of walking boots, but my wife stopped me: "Why not put on your running shoes?"

Running shoes? Did I even HAVE any?

It had been years since I had run, deliberately. So long had it been that I was unsure whether the running shoes that waited in my cupboard were even mine. I said so, too, to Syahidah.

"Try them on." she said, in true Cinderella fashion: if they fit, they must be mine.

I tried them. They fit...but tightly, at the toes, as if I had gotten slightly bigger since I last wore them - which is possible if another kind of growth is considered.

At first, we walked fast. This, I found, was quite acceptable. We walked for perhaps five to ten minutes. Then, however, we began to run. My whole body rebelled somewhat at the exertion, wishing instead, to continue to walk. I felt years of inertia burden me.

Yet, I looked sidelong at my sprightly wife and tried to keep up. She clearly found it a very easy thing to do.

We jogged for some minutes before I signalled that we were to resume walking. It seemed fair, at first, to alternate the two. Some minutes later, we began to jog again. The intention was to carry this on until we completed the loop, through leafy territory and found our way home again.

After some minutes, I heard a slapping sound. Looking down I noted that the sole to my running shoe was coming away on my right foot. I told Syahidah about it. "We will have to walk then", she said.

I was somewhat thankful for my shoe's failure and dropped to a walk. It didn't help much, however...since the shoes proceeded to decline gradually, thereafter.

Once we reached a park, Syahidah urged me to jog again - and I did, on the grass for a few minutes. My shoes, however, were having none of it: both soles were now coming away fully halfway down the shoe.

"We will walk home." she promised, to some relief in me.

All the way home, I made this clacking noise, as if I wore high heeled shoes. It was most amusing. Since I was beside Syahidah, perhaps people thought it was she who made the noise.

At home, I showed my boys the disintegrated shoes, and told them: "I was trying to keep up with mummy! She is a crazy runner!"

They scolded her for endangering their father so. I allowed myself a little smile at their concern.

Syahidah never explained that it was the age of the shoes and not the youth of my competition that destroyed them. It was better to watch their amazement at what running after mummy could do to a pair of shoes.

No doubt, when they grow up, they will remember the Day Daddy's Shoes Exploded.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)