transposable element

this will be the last entry before we go on holiday and such perfect timing to be asked to answer these questions:

What are the things you enjoy, even when no one around you wants to go out and play?

since i moved to germany, i’ve learned to appreciate the value of having some time alone. i could spend it just walking aimlessly, be it in a park, some woods, or even in the busy streets downtown. i’ve learned how to be “alone” even in the midst of people. i enjoy simply sitting somewhere and watching people. or sit in a cofee shop and savor every drop of a cup of capuccino. pity that we don’t have a garden; i would’ve probably enjoyed getting my knees and fingers grubby with muck.

What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level?
in no particular order: SLEEP, sunshine, bubble bath, the scent of roses, chocolate, writing, the sound of the sea, spending quality time with the family

i won’t tag anybody else. if you get to read this, and feel like answering the same q’s, go ahead and do so. leave me a note so i know, ok?

in her recent blog entry, jadevine asked whether stay-at-home moms need days-off. i’ll skin anybody who dares to answer no, hehe… in fact, i’m not only taking a day off, i’m taking a whole two weeks vacation with the family. doesn’t mean that i’ll cease to be a mom during these two weeks, but at least i won’t be staying home, hah!

see you in two weeks!

meanwhile, happy birthday singapore, and more about aging.

last weekend, we were invited to jan’s new kindergarten’s summer party. one thing that struck me as strange was how some of the parents there, whose kids were also attending the kindergarten looked old. if i were to guess, i would have maybe singled out only 2 or 3 women who were around my age. it looked, to me at least, that most were already in their forties! now these would mean one or more of these are true:

1. a lot of women here give birth when they are in their late 30’s
2. i am a poor judge of how old caucasian women are, based on their looks. which means that those women may actually not have been old. they just looked old.
3. i have a warped notion of how old i look. which means i look just as old they do, i just don’t know/feel/admit it.

i just turned another year older today. although i myself recognize the physical changes, i am not alarmed. afterall, aging is part of the package called living.

thanks, glo, for the obituary… este. greetings pala, hehe…
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analyse is right. it’s that time of the year again over here in europe. this year, the family is headed to the east sea, off the coast of prerow. the usual holiday destination for most germans are the warmer beaches off the mediterranean, or the spanish islands. but more and more are making holidays “at home”, and rediscovering the eastern side of the country. one more week and then we’ll join the caravan heading northeast, too. wish us better luck with the weather; as it is, it feels more like autumn than summer . although we did have a few lucky sunshine-saturated almost-tropical warm days, this thermophilic creature needs more doses of sunshine and heat that we’re getting so far!

so, let’s indulge our fantasies a bit here and imagine there’s a genie asking you for your three wishes. what would you wish for? here are mine.

one thing really nice about spending your childhood in germany: having castles and fortresses as a backdrop for your playground:

in kasselburg, july 2005

in laubach, june 2005

if you’ve been reading this blog for sometime now, you probably already know me considerably. but, no matter how much i write here, and even if you read this blog from the first very page onwards, no personal journal will ever capture the entirety of an author. most of you would know bits and pieces. you’ll know that i am a mother, one-half of a biracial marriage, born in asia and currently living in europe. you’d have a clear idea of just how homesick i am when i started my asian travel weblog.

but how many of you know that i am actually, by profession, a scientist? i’ve steered clear of posting entries of scientific nature in this journal, mainly because i realize that it is not the mainstream stuff i discuss with friends. and that got me thinking. i have studied and got trained to become a microbiologist for more than a decade. my inbox is full of subscriptions to scientific journals that keep me in-the-know. i need a space i can write about those, too!

and i’ve found it right here.

feel free to subscribe to get abreast with the latest in science and biotechnology. i know the photo is hideous, but i hope the awesome header makes up for it. hubby is begging me to change the photo, haha!

how much of your life is affected by blogging? i know it has taken a big slice of my life the last year and now i’m part of the MIT survey which hopes to explain how blogging affects the way we communicate with each other.

i wonder if such surveys will ever find out the depth of relationships we build in the blogosphere, and, how we strengthen relationships we’ve made “off-line” through blogging. going through the survey questions, i noticed that most of the people i know, i still know personally, in the flesh. although i’ve made friends through blogging, the deeper relationships are still with those i’ve seen in the flesh, and/or have had private conversations and email exchanges off-camera (off-blog?). which is not to say that blogging has not enriched my social life. i have two well-treasured friends i left in IRRI and i have to say i am growing a closer relationship with one over the other now, because of blogging. which is sad, i suppose, but just goes to show how important it is to keep in touch with friends and people who play an important part in your life. again, not to say that blogging is the only way to do that. with family, for example, i still tend to use the more traditional methods, i.e. handwritten letters and phonecalls, to get in touch. it does happen, but i feel something’s not right if i have to email hubby to tell him to pick up something from the chinese take-out for dinner on his way home. i mean, the emailing part is wrong, isn’t it? although hubby would probably argue it’s the take-out dinner part which is wrong, hehe…

well, anyway, for whatever it’s worth, if you’d like to be part of the study, click the link above!
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yes, i loved my butterfly template, too. but i feel i’ve out-grown it. the title, too, actually. i need something new, something more apt. something that describes me better. now, where’s creativity when you need it most, arrrgh!

any suggestions?

the last few months, i’ve witnessed many who came and went to the philippines for their holidays. pinayhekmi, justice and christine will be up next. and how does that leave me? green with envy! so instead of whining and wishing for what won’t be happening this year, i’ve channeled my frustrations. i’ve joined the aboutweblogs network, blogging about my favorite place on earth. come and explore asia with me!

this is the second interview i made for pinoyexpats and i have enjoyed writing the piece thoroughly. not only because this month’s theme of pinoyexpats is tugging at my heartstrings, but also because i can relate to quite some extent with my interviewee. she represents one of those scenarios i play in my mind when i go on an i-wish-i-could mode. read her inspiring story here and the article she herself has written here.

and oh, for those of you pinoys who are getting tired of being pinoys, i’ve listed 10 reasons just why it’s great being one, gma-garci issues notwithstanding.

added 05 july:

i’ve been trying to access pinoyexpats’ page the whole day yesterday with no luck. so it was only today that i got to read glo’s article. whew! another supermom’s tale!