transposable element

sometime ago, i asked my husband whether he misses driving a car and i was surprised when he said no. we live close to his place of work so the steep price of owning a car, plus the maintenance, parking fees and car insurance is just not worth it. for his purposes, the public transportation is ok, although he does get exasperated with the unpredictability of arrival of buses at non-peak hours, and the way the buses and mrts are packed at peak hours.

it’s me who misses having a car. the convenience of doing the grocery in one run. the safety of having my baby in a car seat. the freedom to go where buses don’t, anytime i want. the ability to estimate travel time more accurately. the possibility of going on long drives and joy rides alike.

they say one never really forgets how to ride a bicycle. i wonder, is driving a car the same? it’s been yeeeaaars since the last time i was at the driver’s seat!

after a couple of weeks fumbling with the rings of maya wrap, i’ve simply given up. no matter how many times i read the instructions and watched the video, i still can’t get mia positioned comfortably and i always found myself permanently adjusting the rings to keep her at the right level.

i decided to buy the baby bjorn air, made up of a mesh cloth that dissipates heat and moisture far better than the classic bjorn does. exactly what you need in hot and humid climates like what we have here. if had money to burn, i would have bought the latest model, the synergy, which also has the mesh material but also boasts of lumbar support for people like me who perennially suffer from back aches. but alas, i couldn’t bring myself to write off more than S$200 for something I know my baby will only use for just a few months.

which is exactly what happened. almost five months and 8kg after, it seems that mia has outgrown her baby bjorn air. although it’s supposedly suitable for babies up to 11 kg, i find the seat of the bjorn a little bit too small to sit mia comfortably when carried. you see, whatever babywearing tool you use, one rule is to make sure that the knees are at the level of the baby’s bottoms, the legs forming more or less a right angle at the knee. for this to happen, the carrier or sling must cover more than just the bottom. the seat should extend to at least part of the thigh to maintain a position that is ergonomically correct for the baby. in this aspect, the bjorn fails after a few months; in mia’s case, just a bit after 4 months.

given what a major p.i.t.a. it is over here to use public transportation with a stroller (some people even have the gall to suggest to just leave babies at home because strollers are considered such a nuisance), i’m left with few options: to exchange my current perambulator for one of those lightweight Maclaren strollers — volo, i think is the lightest at 4 kg– or to get a better baby carrier . given that mia still isn’t that happy with seeing the world from the perspective of gnome, i bought the much talked about (in the babywearing community at least) beco butterfly.

designed by a rock climber mom, it’s stylish and once you manage to put the baby in (which can be a bit tricky with infants), it is super duper mega ultra-comfortable. really, i now hardly feel mia’s weight on my shoulders as the weight is evenly distributed across the back and hips (of which i have ample of, haha). what’s more, once she’s a bit older, i can also carry her on my back, just like flinging a backpack (no possibly with baby bjorn).

they say the carrier can support a child up to 45 pounds (around 20kg). well, let’s see. maybe the carrier can support a whiny 3 year old, but am not sure my torso can!

for several years now, we’ve been avoiding “made in china” goods, at least where ever we can. when we were still in germany, it was fairly easy. everything was clearly marked so you know where your H&M t-shirt was sewn, or where your washing machine was assembled. apart from that, most people would rather spend more on quality proven-and-tested items. buy less, but better quality. and for a lot of people, better quality equates “made in germany”… or europe, at least.

here in singapore, it’s quite difficult to avoid stuff from the mainland. often there just are no alternatives. while many products are sourced from other countries all over the world, made-in-china goods are commonplace, probably almost as if they’re local. understandable, of course, given the country’s ties to the mainland.

most people who get wind of our choice to avoid things made in china scoff at us. they probably thought that made-in-china goods are taking over the world and resistance is futile. well, to be honest, there were times i also thought the same. does it really matter if we buy a wall clock made in china? or those juicy, crunchy pears that cost half of those blush pears from south africa — maybe just a couple won’t be so bad? i remember last year, i was desperately looking for crocs for jan that were made elsewhere, but in the end, i had no choice but to take a deep breath, squeeze my eyes shut, and pay for the china-made caymans.

but after the recent melamine milk scandal, our resolve to boycott made in china has strengthened. it’s one thing when a production gets contaminated inadvertently with hazardous materials, or are simply sub-specs (as they claim in previous toy and drug recalls). but when you purposely add an ingredient that’s not supposed to be there, such as melamine in milk– in MILK, for heaven’s sake!– you show the world what kind of morals and scruples you have. if you can tamper with milk and medicines, who knows what you can do with canned foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, toys, electronics, textiles, etc etc etc…!

is it possible to live without china-made goods? possible, yes, but it’s not easy. if you’d like to try, perhaps read these first:

What to do when everything is ‘Made in China?’
No More Made in China
Not Made in China Life

unfortunately, the Boycott Made in China is no longer live.

we’re not rich. we don’t have a big house with 10 carports. we live as frugally as we can, and we try to save where possible. but you won’t be seeing cheapo china crap in our shopping lists for the time being.

they say kids never lie. of course they do, and it’s normal. kids are clever like that y’know. you think they would voluntary owe up to a mistake if it will get them in trouble?

what they don’t do, though, is mince words. they call black as black and are blunt about it. tact? that’s something you learn much later. discretion? not part of the vocabulary.

so when jan recently said, “mama, why does your tummy still look pregnant?”, i know i only have myself to blame. i need to start thinking of fat burners!

for the last 2 consecutive days, someone’s been trying to get into my moneybookers account. i know because i get emails whenever an attempt is made. the email says that if it wasn’t me, then i should change my password to something more secure as someone else is obviously trying to break into it.

to the scheming thief, here are 2 reasons why it isn’t worth your time:

1. if i can’t remember my own password, what are the chances YOU will get it right?
2. if there was any money in it, you think i would forget my password?

ok, rant done, back to daydreaming of St. Barts villa rentals…

can’t say i’m a fan of her –i actually think she’s so-so when i see her alongside sarah geronimo and rachel ann go on ASAP– but charice has come a looong way. debuted on american tv at the ellen degeneres show, landed on oprah, sang a duet with andrea bocelli and other gigs at las vegas, and now… duet with celine dion at the madison square garden, no less:

according to ny times:

Earlier, she brought Charice Pempengco, a young singer from the Philippines with an impressive voice, onstage. (Ms. Pempengco came to her attention through an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”)

They performed “Because You Loved Me,” though Ms. Dion mostly stayed out of the way as Ms. Pempengco explored the song’s heretofore unheard rougher edges, with ample gesticulations and melisma. As Ms. Pempengco brought the crowd to its feet, Ms. Dion struck poses behind her: awestruck wonder, heartfelt empathy, ambient triumph.

according to ny post (which lambasted celine):

One of the most interesting turns in this show was the MSG debut of 16-year-old vocal prodigy Charice Pempengco, whose manager, Oprah Winfrey - that’s right - secured the Philippine singer a duet with Celine for the song “Because You Loved Me.” The Charice segment was the night’s brightest moment. The teen was able to blast notes with Celine-like power, but she was also able to get in touch with the song’s emotions.

so oprah is her manager now, huh?

jan started writing comics early this year. he would draw action figures, and then write the text right beside them. the script is entirely his, but because he still didn’t know how to spell, he would ask us how every other word is written. quite exasperating actually. for him and for us. he was creating something very similar to comics even if he never had comics before.

from single pages, he moved on to stapling several pieces of paper, and writing rudimentary books. they contained more drawings than text, probably because he couldn’t adequately express his thoughts using words.

slowly, over the course of the last few months, he learned to read, and spell words phonetically. his spelling skills still has a long way to go, but he’s not letting that limit his creativity. last weekend, on a lazy afternoon when the rest of the household was napping and he was probably bored to his wit’s end because he wasn’t allowed to turn on the tv, he came up with this:

do you get the story? i know the spelling mistakes are getting in the way, so here’s an edited version of the text:

once in the jungle, there was a nice elephant and a nice frog and a bad fly. the fly quickly flew on the frog’s nose.

but the frog just flicked his tongue and swallowed the fly. the end.

i’m sure you didn’t get the word quickly, haha! these are jan’s work — he came up with the ideas himself, the story line, the script. no coaxing, no pushing, no prodding. maybe i should get him blogging soon.

leaves much to be desired in terms of voice musicality, but entertaining nonetheless:

sounds like a conyo version of eheads, hehe.

watch the rest of chris’ videos, where he sings other pinoy rock opm.

here’s another american, singing buloy really really well:

what does this say about pinoy music?

after so many years of living without one, we finally got a credit card. we did have a visa debit card which, in principle can have an overdraft of a few thousand euros, but debt-phobics as we are, we always went on a panic mode even if we were say, just a hundred below zero. we never needed a high limit credit card. actually, we still don’t. the only reason we applied for one is to use it to verify my paypal account.

i can see why a credit card can be handy in a shopper’s haven like singapore, though. you also get rebates particularly if you shop from partner shops, so it’s not all bad. pretty handy, too, for making online purchases. oh and yeah, how can i forget, it’s lifesaving if you get admitted to a hospital. when mia was admitted a couple of months ago, we were asked for S$5000 deposit, in cash, pronto. i remember we were flabbergasted for a few seconds there. coming from germany, that’s one of the things you never even think of, you know. you don’t even discuss money and bills. you’re sick, therefore you get treated. someone somewhere (well, the insurance people) will pay for it somehow. here? we spent more time with the “admissions officer” discussing costs of hospitalization than with the doctor. feels kinda… third world.