The value of the unexpected.

For me, one of the most interesting qualities in a conversationalist, is the ability to surprise. It is what really grabbed my interest about my wife, when I first met her: she was constantly saying unexpected, unpredictable things, which I had never heard anyone say before. Until then, I had been accustomed to being able to predict basically what people were going to say next from the context of what they had already said: people were eminently predictable. My wife changed all that, by being eminently not so.

Ainan, too, has this quality of being unpredictable, though his unforeseeability has much more logic about it than my wife’s. I note that my spell checker doesn’t like the word “unforeseeability” – but I do, so it shall remain.

On Monday, 28^th January, Ainan observed: “There is a point at which buildings are too tall to be dangerous. That is when it takes so long to reach the ground that scientists would have invented teleportation by then.”

I laughed. I liked the playfulness of this comment – and its unexpectedness. It is a quality of mind of much merit, to entertain thoughts that no-one else has had – and to do so, in good humour.

Ainan’s mind appears to be an interesting blend of my wife’s and my own. From me, he has his scientific intellect, and a tendency to entertain big ideas; from his mother he has a seasoning of artistic license. Ainan commingles the two, never failing to be logical but, at the same time, often succeeding in being absurd. I cannot decide whether he will become a great scientist or a humourist! Probably both...one who crafts darkly humourous scientific jokes!

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.

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

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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.) 

Clint Eastwood is not the only one.

Fintan, 8, can be a rather cool kid, sometimes. By this I mean, cool in the way that certain iconic film stars have been, in my lifetime – with their pithy lines and their meaningful expressions, saying so much more than the words they have used. I mean the kind of cool that makes an impression on the viewer that is still remembered many years later. Fintan has that kind of cool, without really being aware of it.

A week or so ago, Fintan was playing Team Fortress 2 – a “shoot em up” style computer game.

He played with an easy flair of one accustomed to such things. At one point he shot a rocket at the feet of an opponent, which blasted the intact man far into the air.

“You don’t want to have a dead man’s body falling from the sky!” he remarked to his elder brother Ainan.

Then he fired again at the man, in mid air, catching him in a direct hit.

“You want pieces of him!”

The man exploded scattering chunks of redness everywhere.

His action and attendant words were so deft, so skilled, so well timed, that Ainan laughed to see him do it. When I heard the story, it immediately called to mind the pithy sayings of Clint Eastwood’s, or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s filmic alter egos, in which they would, in a few words, make comic what is, in fact, disagreeable to anyone of any sensitivity.

I don’t expect that Fintan is aware of what he is doing when he speaks in such a way, but actually he is being quite comically skilled. He creates an expectation with one statement – in this case that he disagreed with the idea that a dead man should be falling from the sky – and then follows it up with an even worse fate for the dead man. That is a structure which evokes laughter in the unprepared. What strikes me about it is that a young boy can be aware of and make use of such a structure, without perhaps being conscious that he is doing so. Comedy seems to emerge spontaneously in child development, humour being one of the more interesting manifestations of a developing personality. What is particularly interesting about it is that it appears spontaneously in some children, but not, it seems, in all children. What is it, I wonder that allows for the development of humour in some but not others? Why are some children simply funnier than their fellows? One aspect, I believe is the ability to consider the unexpected and the unlikely and bring them into the conversation. Some children do that readily, it being, perhaps, a property of imagination. Other children are stuck in the real, in what is, and what is before them, and cannot readily do this – so they are not funny.

All three of our sons are funny in their own ways. This humour often depends on the bizarre quality of their thought. In seeing them in action, I am often moved to consider the nature of their parents, and the origins of such a tendency to the bizarre. In that, I would say both their parents are to blame to some extent. It is funny though, to see these attributes reincarnated in the next generation and see them manifest in different ways. Few things in life are more interesting than observing how elements of oneself are reborn in the subsequent generations. My children’s style of humour is one of them. I look forward to much enjoyment to come.

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.)

A family "emergency".

As I walked through the TV room, on the evening of the 3rd of January, Fintan’s distressed, urgent voice assailed me:

“Daddy! Daddy!”, he said, quickly, strainedly.

Clearly, something was wrong: was he in pain?

“Ainan hit me…”, he continued.

I prepared to be riled at the “crime”.

“…last year.”, he finished, to his own evident amusement, for there was a little curl to his lips, as he said it.

What a joker. There is, in Fintan, seven, a wonderful whimsy, which comes out on occasion, often when least expected. He has his own way of thinking and seeing the world and, at times, is able to find humour in it. To my mind, this is a gift that is sometimes overlooked. Far more interesting to me, is the child who can make a joke like this, out of their own thinking and original impetus, than a child, for instance, who is intensely bookish and aces every exam. I rather think that the Fintan kind is more likely to lead an interesting life and make an interesting contribution, than the conventional, ideal child (from an Asian point of view, where bookishness is all). It is the power to be original, even whimsical, which sets people apart, in the end, when the sum total of their lives is done. For only those with some spark of it, in them, have the prerequisites to do something different with their lives. The Asian ideal student, is prepared only for a conventional life and outcome.

Thank you, Fintan, for this whimsical memory.

(If you would like 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.)

The secret of Daddy's tummy.

Fintan has a whimsical sense of humour, that tends to ambush you when you least expect it.

Today, over dinner, Fintan, seven, looked over at his Daddy, and remarked: "Daddy has a baby in his tummy...". That, in itself, was a not inaccurate description of my shape, however before I had time to reply, he continued: "It is four years old, now."

Thank you, Fintan, I am not THAT big.

My thoughts were drowned by the laughter of all around the table, including, reflexively, myself.

So, now you know just why I am the way I am. I am carrying a preschooler in my tummy!

(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.htmlI 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.

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.)

Why mosquitoes bite.

About two weeks ago, I was walking with Tiarnan, in our fairly green area of Kuala Lumpur. The light was fading and the sun slumping in the sky.

Suddenly, I slapped the back of my neck.

Tiarnan, three, looked up at me, quizzically. "Why did you do that, Daddy?"

"A mosquito bit me.", I explained.

He nodded, with the wisdom of a pint sized Yoda, "Because Daddy is so nice!"

Unexpectedly, I felt quite a lot better about being bitten by the mosquito. I rather liked Tiarnan's reasoning: I was being targeted by mosquitoes because I was "so nice!" How sweet of him to think so. The most touching thing of all, though, was that he really seemed to believe it, such was his earnest nodding. He had no doubt at all in him that he had divined the reason for the mosquito's attack.

So, Tiarnan, the next time I get bitten by a mosquito, I will take it as a compliment to my character. Thank you, my boy!

(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.)

Tiarnan's sense of mischief.

Tiarnan is a mischievous boy, in the funniest of ways. An incident on the 20th of May, 2008, is typical of this twenty-seven month old toddler.

Tiarnan, Fintan and Ainan were on a bus with their mother. This, of course, is a challenge in itself, since there is no telling what the three boys will get up to.

Nearby there were two Caucasian men. They did not appear to be together.

Suddenly, Tiarnan, who had been looking at one of them, pointed at him and said: "Daddy!...Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!".

The man looked shocked.

Then Fintan, four, and Ainan, eight, picked up Tiarnan's mischievous cue.

"Daddy!", they cried, together, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!", pointing at the man.

He looked terribly embarrassed and seemed as if he wished he were invisible, at that point, as the entire busload of passengers stared at him.

The other Caucasian man thought this was hilarious, and ruptured with ongoing laughter.

Was Tiarnan confused by some close resemblance to his father, of this stranger? Not at all. The man didn't look like me in the least. Tiarnan was just having fun at the expense of a stranger - and perhaps calling attention to the fact that this man was white, like his dad. He didn't see many Caucasians in his daily life.

As for Tiarnan's elder brothers - they just couldn't resist joining in, on the joke, too.

I bet that is one bus journey the Caucasian stranger will never forget.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven 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, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)