transposable element

looks like jan’s class won’t be learning that much in school the next week. they don’t report for school for two days this week while the sixth graders sit their school leaving exams. on monday, after a 4-day weekend, they’ll watch the table tennis event at the YOG and on wednesday, they will have a mini-excursion. by the time they get back on track next week, there’d be cobwebs on their school furniture… and maybe in their heads, too.

awesome. dazzling. breathtaking. spectacular. all superlatives aren’t enough to describe the visual extravaganza during the opening ceremonies of the youth olympic games, and i’m only talking of images that we’ve seen over tv. i can only imagine how exhilarating it must have been on site.

it’s a pity that jan missed it as he was on a sleepover, but maybe we can still snatch tickets to some of the events. being the first ever youth olympia, and being staged right here on our backyard, it would be a pity not to take the opportunity to see any of it live. pity that taekwondo is almost over now; he’d have been interested in that. hm, we’ll see…

as our adoptive country turned 45 years old yesterday, a flag hung on our balcony’s parapet. at exactly 20:10, my son stood straight to sing the national anthem and recite the pledge. my daughter happily chanted “singapore, singapore!” while watching the fireworks display on tv (which was breathtaking as always, like some Designers Fountain Lighting. geez, my children hold german and filipino citizenship, but seems to be more singaporean than anything else!

in my three years here in singapore, i think i have never successfully found a pair of shoes that really fit my feet. not only is the sizing confusing, having to perpetually convert from american, british and euro sizing, but i think my foot size have actually been changing these past couple of years. and it doesn’t help that usually, there are no half-sizes, so i have to buy a pair that’s a tad bit tight (and possibly injure my nails) or a pair that’s a tad bit loose and put insoles and heel grips (not Spenco, unfortunately) to keep me from losing them.

if i had the $$$, i’d have shoes custom made for me!

i’ve been trying to relieve some of our bookshelves of their burden. much as i want to get rid of them, it doesn’t feel right to simply throw books away, so i’ve been looking for places where i can drop or donate them. the national library is an option, but while browsing online, i came across book crossing, and i think it’s cool!

basically, you tag your books, and then set “free” them into the “wild”– park benches, taxi, bus seats, or diner tables– and track how it changes hands, and perhaps travel around the world! cool, eh?

with all the brouhaha surrounding her botox and thermage treatments, charice should just sing and leave the press to her manager. after openly telling local pres that she had these treatments for cosmetic purposes, it required a lot of quick thinking for her american manager to spin a story for damage control. tmj? bruxism? nice try. but if that were the case, why go to a cosmetologist, er, dermatologist? she’d be better off with a charlotte cosmetic dentist, wouldn’t she?

actually, i don’t think she needs a doc. what she desperately needs is a stylist.

i’m currently writing an article on breast cancer and it makes me want to check term life insurance rates for myself. see, i’m terrified of the big C. i lost my father to it, and many other acquaintances. it could be the age, but i’m hearing of new folks succumbing to cancer on a regular basis of late. and it’s not like i’ve led a health-conscious lifestyle so naturally, i’m worried. sometimes, on morbid moods, i think that it could be just a matter of time.

my first ever profile pic when i started my foray into the blogworld in 2004. jan in 2006, and now, mia.

what do they say about being chips off the old block?

for a while, my inbox hasn’t been receiving any spam mails, thanks to the selective filter i’ve made that automatically shunts spam mails to the trash bin. however, i’ve noticed that of late, i’ve been getting quite a number of testosterone booster emails again. these people are getting sneaky. must create a new filter.

i’ve been baking gooey sugar-laden cinnamon melts yet again. i think this has become my comfort food, next to sinigang and tocino. and leche flan, and turon. and planters cheeze curls. and giotto and nutella. arrgh, maybe i should add apidexin pills to the list.