transposable element

all i’s dotted. all t’s crossed. i think it’s the first time i’m going on holiday that i have no commitments left dangling. i think.

ah, well, it can wait.

2 weeks. bliss.

i was tinkering with logoyes.com and i made this logo on the makings of a business card:

well, i don’t have a company yet, but if my freelance science manuscript editing picks up, i might have to register one for tax purposes. i have one local client who could potentially give me work on a pretty regular basis and if that pans out, then i’ve no choice but to set up a one-man company to make it all wrinkle-free. i still haven’t looked into the paperwork, requirements and legalities of setting one up here in s’pore, though, so it’s still going to be a while before i have to come up with a suitable logo design.

nevertheless, it’s good to know that it could be so easy. it took me less than 5 minutes to make this business card that matches the logo i picked form the variety of pre-made images. you can customize the size, fonts, colors according to your taste. i bet that in less than half an hour and with a little bit of creativity, you can make a design that would be at a par with what professionals can come up with. try it for free and let me see what you come up with!

what would you spend them on? i’m not talking about savings from the house budget or such, but say you had an extra source of income, perhaps a small trickle, maybe not more than a few dollars here and there, but extra nonetheless. would you spend them on luho treats you normally wouldn’t buy? perhaps save for an LV bag, a pair of jimmy choos, or a breguet? or would the money find its way into the house budget and help pay for daily stuff like grocery, utilities, school fees and such? what do you really need extra money for?

i’m getting to like this exercise of incorporating given keywords into my blog entries. i never imagined it would be such an amusing activity. to a certain extent it’s like the “use in a sentence” comedy spiels, except there’s no punchline and the given keywords has to exactly fit to a T. if it’s supposed to be valentines day, you can’t write valentine’s day or valentines’ day, which actually seem more accurate. at di din pwede ang “sounds like”, hehe.

i have to admit i’m enjoying it. it’s something new, not just churning out info and anecdotes. there are rules, which makes it more challenging, and pushes you to be more creative. some keywords were not easy to incorporate, mind. i even referred once or twice to toni’s writing prompts in an effort to trigger some ideas, because i try not to write entries just for the sake of the keywords. afterall, it’s still my blog and this blog’s star is still me.

one great thing people tout about living here in singapore is the low crime rate. i suppose that’s one outcome when poverty is not a pressing problem, there’s virtually negligible alcohol and substance abuse, and people are generally content. of course, as they always remind us, low crime rate does not mean zero crime rate. still, unlike in other even wealthier places in the world, i don’t think there would be a need for such things as security cameras or alarm system monitoring gadgets even if our flat remains unattended over extended periods such as when we go on holidays. besides, it’s not like there’s anything really valuable in our place, hehe. i bet our flat will be just the way we left it… except for the plants. yikes! what to do with the plants?!?!

i wanted to wait til we were in the philippines because i knew i could get them cheaper there. but gawd, i’m bursting at the seams, i desperately needed new maternity underwear. besides, i’ve been suffering from bad bouts of upper back aches recently and i think my heavier bumper load has something to do with it. which is not entirely unfounded; i have a friend who’s a 34D and she said she goes to a chiro because it causes her severe back problems. not that i’m a 34D by any stretch.

anyway, so off we went to takashimaya. do you know how it feels to be plump and pregnant, and be among skinny s’poreans? when the shop assistant said “uh, ma’am, i think you need 2 sizes bigger”, i could have died. i felt like i should have gone to a shop for plus size lingerie. needless to say, i bought just the barest minimum from the shop. afterall, we’ll be in pinas in a few days, where i could have a dozen of xxl so-ens for a fraction of the price i paid for the ones i got. the only problem is, my husband absolutely detests them. he says i should have outgrown such cotton undies when i turned 12, haha!

pointed at the front and with a spoiler at the back — that’s jan’s definition of a cool car. and in marlboro red, please. with a loud exhaust pipe that hums while stalling, and vrrrrooms on accelerating.

sigh. what’s with boys and their penchant for cars, anyway? where does it come from? it might have been easier to explain if we were still in schumacherland, where many consider cars nearly as essential as food, hehe, and driving is not a simple task of getting from point A to B.

is there a gene on the Y-chromosome that results to boys’ fascination for cars? matchboxes and bobby cars give way to F1 and rally racing. as adults they spend hours talking about the latest machines, the latest gadgets. as seniors, they proudly showcase their old-timers, and discuss whether the 2008 Chrysler 300 accessory would be compatible with the 1955 car model of the same name. arrgh, is there an end?

this week’s photohunt theme is important, and considering our upcoming trip to the philippines, i had to make sure these were in order. jan’s in particular was just recently renewed at the german embassy here in singapore because his previous one was was expiring in june this year, and international travels require that your passport is valid for 6 more months. had we renewed his passport earlier, he could have had the new “chipped-and-thumbmarked” version of the reisepass instead of the kinderreisepass. although its equally valid, well, the paper, printing and the fact that it’s not laminated makes it look rather less impressive. it’s also not valid for travel to the US. not that we’re planning to fly that direction soon, but who knows?

these maroon passports my boys bear can gain them entry in more countries than my green one can get me in. that’s probably why a lot of pinoys take the first chance they can get to obtain a different passport. however, there’s one case my green passport has powers over their maroon ones: when we travel to the philippines, hehe. travelling alone, they are allowed to stay in the philippines visa-free for a maximum of only 30 days. travelling with me, a filipino passport-bearing spouse or mother, they can stay up to a year without having to apply for a visa.

so for that, along with many other reasons, thanks, but i’m not giving up my pinoy passport just yet.

a few weeks ago, we had the chance to watch the national treasure: book of secrets at the golden village gold class cinema at vivo city, the biggest mall here in singapore. i’m not sure which was more awesome - the movie, or the cinema itself.

GV VivoCity sets a new benchmark for multiplexes in Singapore by introducing a sophisticated club ambience, with 5-star food and beverage (including a top wine list) and a private dining room.

The Gold Class cinema seats are all equipped with call buttons for faster and more discreet service. A new level of concierge-style service, hitherto unseen in Singapore cinemas, will be enjoyed by patrons from the moment they arrive all the way through their patronage experience.

yup, you get to wait in an exclusive lounge, where you can have snacks, drinks or a full meal if you want, or you can have them delivered to your seat. when you’re ready, a concierge leads to your seats. and man, what seats! recliner seats comparable to first class airline seats, complete with a blanket too! those chairs were so comfy i would love to have one at home, not as home theater seating, but as a nursing chair, hehe.

so after i bit the bullet and decided to try to get paid for blogging on this particular blog, i thought i might as well explore what other possibilities are out there. sure, i’ve already been getting paid for blogging for more than two years now, but blogging for a network is a different ballgame to this. so i asked friends in the know, those who’ve been doing this for a longer while, for some tips and feedback. smorty’s blog for money program came out well-recommended. it’s basically the same as other programs out there: you get paid to write opinion posts on certain products or services and link back to the advertisers’ site. you don’t necessarily have to explicitly recommend or vouch for something, you just write what you think about it. which is what we all do all the time anyways, right? and based on the feedback i’ve gathered, smorty does pay promptly, unlike other programs out there, and that’s the whole point of the exercise, isn’t it? if you’re interested in trying out advertising on your blog(s), or if you want to advertise on blog(s), try out smorty.