Ariel's Message Book

Big Kids Sharing Pride and Joy

Sat Sep 16 10:18:21 1995
Ariel with mom Shuen Shuen replies to Rosie Winters from Not Just for Kids!:

Thanks, Rosie.  Yours is a good home page.  I'll put  a link to your page 
from my Thomas page too soon.

...

I am honored to be linked from your [Not Just for Kids!] page. 
(I do get emails from not just kids too!)

Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 14:16:39 -0500
Rosie Winters from Not Just for Kids! says:

I have added the "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" page as a link on the
Internet@Night - Not Just for Kids! page....

Tue, 29 Aug 1995 18:38:08 CDT
From: Uncle Louis Dirty Face from Hong Kong (now in USA) says:

Thank you for your lovely songs, but maybe [it's]my hearing, I just can't hear them
so well.  Ask Daddy Perry to give you more to eat so you can grow up faster
and sing louder too.  See you in Hong Kong soon. Bye.

Thu Aug 17 21:47:08 1995
Shuen Shuen replies to Mark and Elizabeth Bachrach from Springfield, Virginia, USA:

... Yes, I'll certainly put a link on Ariel's page.  But where? ... 
Just wondering how you get to Ariel's page in the first place.  
Did you come by way of Kids' Space? Or somewhere else?

I'll certainly put your mail in Ariel's Message Book and include 
a thumbnail picture of Elizabeth  and provide the link from there.  
But as I've browsed your page,  I'm also tempted to put in on 
the home page proper.  Will let you know when I've done so.

PS  Ariel used to be the youngest cyberkid around in March and 
April 95. But now she's been dethroned by many others :-)

Thu, 17 Aug 1995 00:42:05 -0400
Mark Bachrach from Springfield, Virginia, USA writes Shuen Shuen:

I have included a link to a page you maintain in my newly published Web
page, "I'm Two! I'm Terrible! Elizabeth's Home Page."

...

Please accept my invitation to stop by the page and check out the link for
accuracy, acceptability, etc.  I would also appreciate any comments or
suggestions you may have.

If appropriate, I would appreciate a link from your page to Elizabeth's page.

Wed Aug 09 05:39:39 1995
Shuen Shuen replies to Luis from Monterey, California, USA:

Thank you for pointing this out.  I'll make  the correction - to say "since 1987" 
instead of "since 1977".

...

Personally, I like The Last Emperor more than Forrest Gump if I am to compare
the two.  I've always been a Bertolucci fan, although his most recent 
The Sheltering Sky and The Little Buddha were somewhat disappointing.

I've never compared his movies with a typical Hollywood production before.  
(The Little Buddha may be the only one that can be done so, but unfortunately 
it's bad.)   I always put him in a class of his own, like any other European 
masters since the New Wave era.

Again, thank you for dropping by my daughter's home page.

Mon, 07 Aug 95 23:24:43 -0700
Luis E. Reinoso from Monterey, California, USA writes Shuen Shuen:

Very nice homepage, but one minor correction to your Oscar information:
"Forrest Gump" did not win the most Oscars since 1977.  The most Oscars
won by one film in the past 30+ years was by "The Last Emperor" in 1987.
"The Last Emperor" (no offense, but a far superior film than "Gump" or
just about anything in the past 10 years) was nominated in 9 categories
and won every single one.

Sun, 30 Jul 95 23:33 CDT
Dan Dawdy from Chicago, USA writes Shuen Shuen:

I have added your steam page into my Parlor car section. It will go online 
August 1st.  Thanks and be sure to let me know when you deleat the page.

Sun, 23 Jul 95 20:52 CDT
Dan Dawdy from Chicago, USA writes Shuen Shuen:

Yes, I will be linking to your Steam page starting August 1st.  Please
be sure to let me know when/if you remove it so I can also remove the
link.

Hope all went well for Ariel's birthday.

Fri, 14 Jul 95 03:57:49 EST
Marisa Lucena from Rio de Janeiro, Brasil writes Shuen Shuen:

[KIDLINK]'s a "good" place to make penpals.
Nice meeting you! Keep in touch.
Cheers,
Marisa

File: "KIDLINK GENERAL"

KIDLINK: Global Networking For Youth 10-15 KIDS-96 (sm) is a grassroots 
project aimed at getting as many children in the age group 10-15 as 
possible involved in a GLOBAL dialog. KIDLINK (sm) is the name of the 
organization that runs the yearly KIDS-nn projects. The KIDS-96 project 
will run from May 7, 1995, until May, 1996. Then the KIDS-97 project will 
start. Since the start in 1990, over 40,000 kids from 72 countries on all 
continents have participated in our activities. 

...
 
To learn about our projects, and keep current about important developments,
subscribe to the KIDLINK announcement service. You do this by sending an
email message to

   LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU

with the following command in the TEXT of your message:

   SUB KIDLINK Your-first-name Your-last-name

Please use your real name, not a computer name or "Your-first-name Your-
last-name". And please note: If you don't subscribe to the KIDLINK service,
then you won't know what is going on.

...

Up-to-date information about the KIDLINK project is available from the
KIDLINK Gopher. You can access this service in various ways:

 [1] Using your own Gopher client:

      gopher gopher.kidlink.org

 [2] Using telnet:

      telnet gopher.kidlink.org  login: kidlink

 [3] Using a World Wide Web browser:

      gopher://gopher.kidlink.org
      http://www.kidlink.org

 [4] Using electronic mail:

      Send mail to agora@www0.cern.ch . Put the following commands in
      the body of your mail

      send http://www.kidlink.org
      help

...

Sat, 1 Jul 1995 08:07:35 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen replies to Dan Dawdy of Chicago, USA:

[On the Fat Controller being named as Sir Toppem Hatt in America: ].

OK, here's a little Thomas trivia that I can add on to the page - you 
never know whether American or British Web browsers, "politically 
correct" or not so, may browse at the page. :-)

I'll also add a pointer [from my page on steam engines and railroad traveling 
in China] to your Parlor Car page to direct people to other railroad trip 
articles at CWRR. Trying to build some pages on railroads and trains in 
China - that's my secret ambition right now. And will need your help and 
suggestions once I get into it.

...

Wow, thank you [for your happy birthday wish to Ariel].  You can't believe 
how many cyber-birthday-wishes she's got from visitors dropping by her 
home page in just these few days!

Ariel and her dad Perry say thank you and hi to Dan and Amy too!

Fri Jun 30 21:59:36 1995
Dan replies to Shuen Shuen:

Wow...very nice [Thomas the Tank Engine] page.  Thanks for the credit and 
Benn's fonts.  So, you know Sir Toppem Hatt as the Fat Controller. We here in 
America have changed the name to be more "understanding" of heavy people.  
I think we have gone a little overboard with the political correctness movement, 
but that's another story....

No one really knows [where's the Island of Sodor] except that it's somewhere off 
the cost of England.  It  may be based on a real place, but as far as I know, it's all 
made up....

Very interesting. Yes, I would like to link to [the newspaper article on steam 
engines and train traveling in China] from the Parlor Car section as that is where 
people expect to find articles and stories....

Thanks and please wish Ariel a happy birthday from me and my wife Amy here 
in Chicago!!!

Thu, 29 Jun 1995 22:37:40 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen writes Dan:

I'm almost ready to get the Thomas images on to the Net in time for my 
daughter Ariel's birthday on 2 July.

I've put the Thomas sticker set icons on the following page.  See if you
like them. 
...

BTW, where's the Island of Sodor? 

...

I've made a page on a newspaper article on steam engines and train 
traveling in China. Feel free to point at the page in your CWRR July 
issue (Switch Track page?), if you find it appropriate....

My husband is traveling to Southwest China in mid July.  I'll ask him to 
take special note on trains he may come across or ride on and maybe to 
contribute to a new railroading in China home page..  We'll see.

Talk to you later.

Thu, 29 Jun 1995 23:33:22 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen replies to Joe Wong of Santa Clarita, California, USA:

Yes, I still remember Ariel when she was that small. And proud parents
like you and I certainly want to let everyone else know our treasured
possessions. 

I wish the Internet had been so readily accessible back when
Ariel was born, so that I could chronicle her growth and development,
record and share the highlights of parental joy and tribulations since Day
One. 

We have a huge collection of her photos that always need sorting out and
new albums, some Super8 videos of her which we took but seldom watched
over again, and a Baby's Diary which we just filled out for a few weeks.
And finally we can put the best pictures, video clips, succinct statements
and thoughts together in one single place.  The Web is just the right
medium and the best - flexible, accessible, malleable, timely, trendy,
global, multimedia, and sharing. Better late than never. I'm sure you'll
enjoy the thrills of putting things together and getting the feedbacks
from total strangers and yet real friends, from all over. A creative and
rejuvenating experience in between night feeds, for sure. 
 
...

No objection [if you "borrow" some ideas from Ariel's Page], 
and in fact, you're the first to respond saying that you
have similar interests as mine, though not explicitly yet. Many children's
pages I've seen are just a list of what they like or what they do.  Maybe
they are just old enough to really put in what they have in mind.  I try
to put in a trail of what my daughter does and especially the landmarks in
her development.  But at the same time, I'd intersperse with the parents'
feeling and thoughts. Or even put in links to other sites of interest to
me and my husband only (The Beatles, newsmagazine, movie reviews,
progressive anime and whatnot).  In a sense, it's the parents' or family's
home page too. It's going to grow and grow and evolve and evolve as Ariel
turns older and gives her direct input.

...
 
In a few weeks, [Sarah] will be able to sleep through the night. How would 
you have time to play on the Net and get Sarah catch up with Ariel? :-)

...

Wow, [Santa Clarita Valley - ] the best part of LA county. I've just been to LA in 
early June. Definitely can't beat the weather there at this time of the year!

...

Thu Jun 29 19:07:22 1995
Joe replies to Shuen Shuen:

I just love your home page, let me introduce myself, my name is Joseph Y.
Wong, I have a 5-year old son, Andrew (A very good little boy that has grown
into a handsome little young man), and a tiny little One month, two weeks,
one day old daughter, of course, Sarah Aubree.  Sweetest little things this
side of the Pacific (I guess Ariel is the sweetest thing that side of the
Pacific).

Sarah's Home Page:  Under construction!  I was looking for Ideas to set up a
home page for Sarah, and I ran into yours.  I hope you don't have any
objections if I "borrow" some ideas from Ariel's Page - Perhaps we can make
Sarah's page as a Cyber-sister page of Ariel in Canyon Country?

What am I doing up 3:30 a.m. here in California?  The 3:00 a.m. feeding, I
think that is still fresh in your mind.  I do the 12:30 and 3:00 feedings
and my wife, Sun, takes care of the rest of the night/morning shift.  It's
so hard to go back to sleep.  So I'm usually up between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00
playing on the internet.

My home page, will be up in a few weeks (I do have a daytime job)...

Please don't go there now, because it is not up yet.  I'll E-mail you and
Ariel as soon as it is up and running.

If you have time, please check out my city's home page.  I think it is one
of the best place to bring up a family. (I know what Hong Kong is like,
lived there when I was a child.)

...

Thu, 29 Jun 1995 18:10:28 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen replies to Joe (JYW):

Now where's Sarah Aubree's page? Ariel is anxious to know right away. 
She's in a very hyper mood these days - in a couple of days she's going 
to be three - and is already excited by all the upcoming parties.

Thu Jun 29 17:54:07 1995
JYW of Santa Clarita, California, USA says:

I love your home page, good idea.  Ariel is way too cute.  My little 
Sarah Aubree will give Ariel some internet competition. Of course, 
personal bias.  :-)

Sun Jun 25 05:47:45 1995
Team Synergy's Kevin and Dianna from Dayton, Ohio USA replies to shuen Shuen:

Thanxs Ariel for giving us credit on the pictures and making a link to 
our [Disney] page!  We really appreciate it and really enjoy your Pocahontas page!

Please keep in touch!

Fri, 23 Jun 1995 08:38:34 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen writes Kevin and Dianna,

This is the mom of a little three-year-old fan of Pocahontas in Hong Kong.
We had a preview of the movie last Sunday and I've constructed a 
Pocahontas page for my daughter Ariel.  It was her very first movie in an 
actual movie theater. And I'm proud that she stayed attentive most of the 
time.

Ariel and I have visited and enjoyed much your Pocahontas page and we've
adopted a couple of images from there (along with some others from Buena
Vista's pages). 

...

You can also put her My Favorite Disneys page on your Other Disney 
Links! section...

Wed, 7 Jun 95 11:31 CDT
Daniel S. Dawdy of Illinois, USA replies to Shuen Shuen:

Thanks again for your letter.  I am glad you found all the Thomas icons.
Yes, there were only 10. I scanned them off a sticker set and then
cleaned them up a bit....

Please do use my images.  As I said, this Thomas month will only stay
till July.  I try to keep new things here every month.  If you would
like to add in a link to me, that's great....

Wed, 7 Jun 1995 06:12:31 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen writes Daniel:

Took me and my daughter a while to go through your voluminous railroad
pages. My daughter enjoyed the random popping out of Thomas and his
friends, while I tried grabbing as much as possible from the virtual rail
trip memories by many people, including yours.... 

We don't have a vast rail industry in this part of the world. In Hong
Kong, we only have the modern mass transit system in the urban district, a
light rail system in the new town districts, one Kowloon-Canton railway
(KCR) system leading us to the North into China, and an upcoming passenger
rail transit system from downtown to the new airport. None except the KCR
constitutes a real railroad system.  I've come across a book on steam
locomotives in China, which are certainly almost extinct species now. I
like trains,but I won't say I'm an enthusiast. But certainly my interest
is aroused after going through your pages. I believe for railroding
nostalgia buffs, there's no better place to hold the images and yes,
sounds, on the Web than anywhere else....

... What I've  been thinking is that I will grab all these Thomas and friends 
images and put it on a [Thomas home page] for my daughter.... She enjoys 
being able to see them all when she's cybernauting. I'm sure she will also 
spread the words around among her friends too! That's for kids who are all 
potential railroading fans. 

And would you mind if I also make a pointer to your Railroad page for the
parent-railroad fans who browse the page with their kids. If I get more
info on Thomas, I won't mind hosting a special home page for him and his
children fans. 

Our heartiest congratulations on your Cyberspace World Railroad first 
anniversary! 

Shuen Shuen and Ariel

Mon, 5 Jun 95 16:39:17 GMT
Alan Gregory's dad Steve of Bristol, England, says:

Thanks for your message to Alan.  Please go ahead and add a link to Alan's
page.  I put in a link from Alan's page to Ariel's around May 1, but he
didn't get the chance to see her page until a couple of days ago.
When I showed him, he was very impressed -- he particularly liked the songs.
In fact, his favourite bit was the song that was followed by loud applause; 
he listened to that one over and over again!  When he first heard Ariel's
voice he was surprised because he thought she was a baby; I guess he was 
misled by the photo.

Anyway, Ariel's page was a great success with Alan.  He's not interested
in pages without pictures, and he's much more excited if there are
sounds as well.  I think sounds and pictures are essential in pages for
small children; I guess they have got used to those things from TV.
Alan's just about old enough to appreciate the concept of the Web: he 
understands that people can read his page and send him messages (though 
he sometimes expects a message to get to him physically, like a letter!).
When he's pleased with a drawing he's done he always asks me to scan it
and put it on his page (in fact I can't keep up with him!).  The message 
Alan sent to Ariel was dictated by him (though I left out some irrelevant 
detail when I typed it for him!).  In fact, he wanted to actually sing 
into the message, though maybe that will be technically possible some day!

...

Wed, 31 May 1995 08:31:05 -0400
Mike Markowski of Delaware, USA (see his Beatles page), writes Ariel's mom Shuen Shuen:

G'morning, Shuen Shuen!

I had a lot of fun browsing through Ariel's pages.  She's the first
3 year old with a web page I've heard of!  You did a nice job of putting
it all together.  One day soon, I'll have to have our little son "write"
Ariel a letter, too.

...

Tue, 30 May 95 11:37 CDT
Daniel S. Dawdy of Illinois, USA says:

I checked out Ariel's page. Very nice and a real cute idea!
I really like the singing.... I make a major update to my pages once a month.
In June, my Cyberspace World Railroad will be one year old.
Guess who will drop by?  There will be 10 inline Thomas
icons which will appear on random pages....

I will also have some 640 x 480 x 24bit images of Thomas and
James along with many of the characters from the the show....

I have had many people ask about a Thomas site.  I just don't have
the time to do one.  I know it would be very popular and having 
children able to leave messages to each other would be a great 
way to meet others from around the world....

Dan

              >     ____________       ______   _                     __________
	  ____|____/____________|_____(______)_|_|_  ________________/__________
	 / | |           | |       __________     | |                      | |
 _______/__|_|  O        |O|      |____|_____| O  | |     O                |O|
/          | |           | |                      | |                      | |
|  14A     |_|           |_|             RD&S     | | 14B                  | |
|  ________|_|______     |_|     _________________| |_________________     |_|
|__|  (*)  (*)  (*) )_____-_____( (*)  (*)  (*) |-| |-| (*)  (*)  (*) )_____-___

The Cyberspace World Railroad    http://www.mcs.net/~dsdawdy/cyberoad.html

Tue, 9 May 1995 23:00:09 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen replies to M.:

My husband Perry helped me to work on [Ariel's home page].  He is better 
in computer than I am. So I have to rely on his knowledge. With his patience we 
finally created the home page bit by bit. The outcome really made me very 
excited especially when I heard Ariel sing....

Tue May 9 08:00:02 1995
M. replies to Shuen Shuen:

...I'm glad to find another mom intrigued by what the web can offer their 
children.  Did you create the home page?

Tue, 9 May 1995 07:19:15 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen replies to M.:

Thanks for visiting Ariel's home page. Go ahead and put the link on your 
family's home page.  Ariel loves the idea that she is being visited by 
friends  from all over.  She is also getting some very interesting and 
heartwarming letters including yours too. Thank you....

We also visited your family's pages. Ariel listened to [your daughter's] violin 
playing over and over many times and saw [her] picture. We hope to get 
one of Ariel's recent pictures on to her home page soon.

I am also very "lucky" too, I suppose, to have a very lovely child who
enjoys singing and drawing and seeing pictures and hearing voices and
songs of hers and other kids' on the Web. Ariel is still very small, but
one of these days she will start saying I want to write a letter.... I look
forward to that moment....

My husband, Perry, was the one who first introduced me to the Web, and I 
have enjoyed every bit of it since, especially when it comes to kids' stuff.

Say hello to your family!

Sun May 7 22:13:00 1995
M. says to Shuen Shuen:

Very Cool!! 
 
Can I put a link to [Ariel's home page] from our family home page.  I found it from 
Kid's Space!!  Your daughter is very lucky.

Tue, 9 May 1995 08:14:54 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen replies to S.:

... Both Perry and I were with [Ariel] when she did
the [Michael Row the Boat Ashore] recordings. 
She sat on her Dad's lap, stuck her neck out, her head up towards 
the microphone at the top of the Macintosh monitor, making every 
bit of effort she can. Yes, we are so proud and happy. She is a pro at 
her young age! :) ...

Perry [Ariel's dad] suggested we must start compiling the interesting and
heartwarming responses, comments to Ariel's home page, her singing,
drawing etc.so when Ariel grows up, she has a personal record on her 
development, what she could do at what age along with comments and 
anecdotes from all over....

The idea is that kids enjoy the pictures, songs, stories,
while parents always want to read about what other people think of their
own kids' singing, drawing, and want to share experience....

Mon May 8 09:42:47 1995
S. says:

...when I listen to the song [Michael Row the Boat Ashore] 
I pictured a 2-year-old girl was opening her mouth widely, 
concentrating on making a loud sound, and waving her body with 
her song, and you parents were looking at her happily and proudly. 
Yes, all her songs bring this strong picture to me....

Sun, 7 May 1995 06:59:57 +0800 (HKT)
Shuen Shuen writes to Kids' Space:

Congratulations on the opening of On Air Concert!  Didn't
know that you would pick Ariel's Michael Row the Boat song.... 
Well, at least she's singing loudly (actually yelling) to make the
grand announcement (amusingly too!) for the On Air Concert! :)

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This page created 7 September 95 , updated 20 September 95, Hong Kong.
For info and feedback, email shung@hk.super.net

This document is compiled from messages exchanged with visitors to Ariel's Home Page since April 1995. Thanks to all who have contributed suggestions, Web tools, tips and comments. Here's a little Visitors' Trivia. The background image is obtained from The Background Sampler at Netscape.