Another first, I was surprised to find out, was Abe achieved being one of last few players finishing the last round. He played for more than four hours in the game. After two hours and a half, I told myself  that I should be happy with Abe’s effort no matter what’s the result. After the game, I thought: “In almost all of previous chess tournaments, Abe always use less then half of the allotted time. Today, I would guess he left the game with only minutes on his clock, and he finally was patient enough to be one of the last few players finishing the round.”

Abe was one of last few players to finish the last round at 2010 Pan America Open

One corner of IL class 2010

Hope you enjoy everything, whether it is  the snow, or it is the tension, whether you are young or you are old.

Talking about something without tension, Abe’s little bother likes to “read” books, but according to Mommy, he only reads the page numbers. However, he still looks enjoying it:

Two brothers enjoy reading in a Costco store

Whatever you do, try to enjoy it, even you can’t grasp everything of it.

We are on the way to our vacation, will be back after Christmas.

Have good Holidays, why not.

Last time, I asked Abe read one story in the book; he finished it in minutes and said he liked it. After last chess tournament, Abe said, to not be bored between rounds, he would like to read something short and funny. So we will bring this book to next chess tournament.

I asked Abe watching this show last Sunday:

He became an instant fan of the comedian: Joe Wong even I suspect that he may not understand most of the jokes, but “Who Cares?” I said to my self, “To make good jokes, you have to study the culture deeply.”

“Yes.” Abe affirmed it, to my surprise.

Sometimes, I go there by myself to pick him up. Not seeing Abe, David asks,
“Where is Abe?”
“He is at home.”
“Is Mommy at home?”
“Let’s go home and check.” I always answer like this, even Mommy is at home; David will be glad to go home with me and, in a surprise, find Mommy is waiting for him at home.

David likes to ask the name labels when I try to put on his coat, he will point to them one by one,
“What is this?”
“Justin.”
“What is this?”
“Rebeca.”
…
“It is Luke.” Luke is his best friend, he knows the name label.
…
“It is David,” He points to his own name label. “D is for David!”
…
Sometimes, Abe explains the name labels to David.

At home or library, David likes me to read books for him. Upon finding letter “A” in the book,
“It is A,” he exclaims. “A is for Abe!”

As David knows more letters, counts beyond 10, grows bigger, he likes more playing time with his mommy, his bigger brother and his daddy.

The following video was taken about one month ago at his daycare center. Enjoy the toddlers’ show before the parents and siblings:

He started to read the chess book, at the same time, I started to read an article  from another book, minutes later, he said to me,
“I am done.”
“You must have not read it carefully, it is supposed to be a difficult book,” I replied, “I have not finished reading this interesting story yet.”
“Which story? Let me see how soon I can finish it.” Abe must think he is a super-reader, he will surely finish reading an article or whatever much faster than his dad.

“Sure, you can. But after you finish reading the article, I will test you some questions to see if you really read the article.” I guess it is not a bad idea to teach him some lessons.

“I may not remember every detail.”

“OK.”

I showed the story to Abe, it’s named The Mansion: A Subprime Parable written by Michael Lewis.

After Abe finished reading the article, I asked him the following questions:

• What is the story about?
• Do the kids like the house when they first see it? Why?
• What are the names of the three kids?
• Do the author think he has privacy living in the house, why?
• Why do they move out of the house?
• How much is the utility bill for the first month?
• How much is the water bill for the first month? Is it for drinking water?
• What is Quinn’s response when visiting William Randolph Hearst’s house?

See if you can answer them all and let me know if I missed some of important questions.

Abe answered most of my questions correctly or almost correct. So I thought the lesson he could learn was not about his reading, the lesson was about managing money:  Spend only if you can afford.

By the way, Abe said he used ten minutes reading it (The Mansion: A Subprime Parable). How about you?