Monday blues are setting in. I was having a game of mahjong with Pei, John and Jonathan when I realised that tomorrow's a working day. Wow, my mood was immediately dampened man.

So Limin turned 21 this year. Looking at her, man I think she looks like she turned 21 long ago. No offence but the trend seems to suggest that girls are growing up and maturing much faster and are going way beyond their true age. I have met my 17-year-old students on the streets and you wouldn't think that they were only 17. Their dressing, make-up skills and all that make them look much older. Like my age! Sometimes I feel like I'm younger than them...younger at heart, I mean. Do I look my age? (I hope not.)

She's the typical "little royal highness" brought into the world with a silver spoon in her mouth. Youngest in the family with a doting elder brother and another sister. Her mother fetches her everywhere, even when she wants to go for a movie with her friends, or even when she goes clubbing at zouk. Her mother will fetch her there and if she wants to, her mother would fetch her home too. What a lucky girl, everyone says. But frankly, I think she's spoilt. Her poor mother's been slogging her ass off for her birthday party. She apparently had one last night at her home with her friends and tonight's party is for family and relatives. So her mother was "lamenting" that tonight's crowd isnt as difficult to serve as last night's. I could imagine her running in and out of the kitchen, preparing and topping up the cordial, making sure there's enough serviettes to go round and cleaning up after the guests have left. Yeah, they have a maid too, which is why her little royal highness need not lift a finger to do anything. After all, it IS her birthday party.

I wonder if I will pamper my own daughter like this next time.