transposable element

our (fake) christmas tree is up, the lighting fixtures are set, we’re sweltering in the heat (as you can see from mia’s staple homewear) but it’s the first advent sunday and the official christmas season begins! horray!

if you’re shopping from amazon for christmas gifts anyway, would you mind using the link below? mia says thanks for the aguinaldo!

we were reminded 10 thousand times prior to the event that cameras and videos are not allowed inside the hall and we took it seriously. hey, we did live in germany before, where one of the most important words one needs to respect is “verboten”.

but when other parents started to play paparazzi we followed suit. apparently, rules are made to be broken. too bad we were seated too far for my camera’s zoom powers. we don’t have the official video yet, but here’s a video jan and papa put together from the pics and clips we were able to take. took them a couple of hours to put together, but at least they were poductive rather than just sitting in front of the tv stand. excuse the choice of music; jan selected them and the photos himself.

jan was wearing his malay costume for the play they performed later on. their class which was captured on this video while going to the stage (he was one of the last), was just some of the 250 or so graduates from the learning vision centers in the country.

do computers have a life span? is an upgrade or purchase of a new computer every couple of years inevitable? i’m asking these because if my memory serves me right (which admittedly is not that reliable anymore) my pc is now about 3 years old. to me, that’s like, only 3 years old. afteall, i’m not one who always need to have the top of the line gadgets. for as long as my tools are still working and meeting expectations, i don’t see a need to replace them.

the problem is, it seems that like me, my pc has been aging too. it has become slower and slower and sloooower the last few months. it could be the volume of files –pictures mostly– that has been downloaded onto it for the last couple of years. i do have these pics backed up on an external hard disk and some files on memory sticks, but i’m planning on offloading them onto a second external hard disk before deleting them from the pc.

but will that improve the working speed of my computer? ang hirap talaga ng techno-bobo.

the boys are trying to get me to agree on getting a (pair of) hamsters. aaargh. no, no, no.

we’ve got a baby that’s going to start crawling soon (i hope), and i don’t quite like the idea of having rodents in the house, thank you very much. aside from the added expense (food, cage and accessories, pet supplements (?)), i see it as just additional work. in theory, having pets is a good way of teaching kids about responsibility. in theory. but as i’ve witnessed many times, it often does not work that way. considering that the life span of a hamster is just 2-3 years, the only possible lesson jan would probably getting from having a pet is the concept of death and dying. isn’t that cruel? not just for the child, but for the animal, too. imagine dedicating your whole life running around in a cage, round and round a wheel, just for the entertainment of some kid.

oh wait. isn’t that what parents do, too?

(to those who do have hamsters at home, or any pet for that matter: nah, i’m not really against people owning pets. but if i need win against my boys, i need to stack up some good arguments against it.)

yowza, one week left to november! i always forget that for jan (and next year, mia too), christmas gifts start trickling in by dec 1. having an advent calendar is a tradition from germany we’ve carried on here. it’s like a countdown to christmas, and each day, starting from dec 1, he gets a small gift. no biggies, just a piece of chocolate some days, a pencil on others, a sticker on some. just small treats, really. but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to put together. otherwise, instead of building up the excitement for christmas, you’ll find a kid on the 15th day saying, “aw, not a sticker again?!”

i need to get that done this week, and for christmas i’m not sure whether we should also put in orders for german Amazon books and cd’s like we did last year. we’ve just recently discovered that a bookstore in town carries german titles, so maybe we can make do with what’s available. (arrrgh, i hate those words: “make do”, but sadly, often these days, that’s all i can manage!)

we’ll be putting up the tree tomorrow (that’s the plan, at least), and i’m hoping to make some holiday crafts with jan next week. notice the phrasing of my sentences? plan. hope. what can i say? with a nearly 7-month old around, our days are unplanned unpredictable chaotic inconvenient… um, flexible. there, that’s a positive word. hehe.

every now and then, i browse for jobs in marketing available here in singapore. no, not for me, but for my younger brother. among the four of us, he’s the only one who didn’t pursue a degree in the life sciences. we did try to force urge him to take up nursing, but alas, he opted to shift to economics. after graduation, he was doing fine with a job in a bank, but he got bored and is now doing rounds as a med rep. now, he’s not bored. he’s tired. no wonder. ikaw kaya mag-commute across manila?

i suggested coming over. but i’m not really sure if he’s up for an OFW life, living on his own and fending for himself. he could certainly stay with us for a couple of weeks til he finds his footing but i don’t intend adopting him up indefinitely. no way. if he comes over, he’ll have to be independent. the question is, does he have it in him — the will to up sticks and set up shop elsewhere, the diskarte to make the right choices and decisions for his life?

on the other hand, he’s just 22. i can’t remember doing anything really relevant at 22. does one already ponder about life and the future at 22?!?

finally we’ll get to see jan’s play on saturday. the culmination of months of practice, including a dress rehearsal yesterday. well, about time. jan has already memorized the entire skit from all the repetition, including the lines of all characters! and as if it matters! they went for a recording of their lines a few weeks ago, so what the audience will hear ought to be a perfect rendition, hehe!

costumes, $30. 2 tickets, $60. obligatory white shoes, $20 (luckily we found some cheapo ones!), DVD of the play (no cameras and videocams allowed inside the hall), $30. pride in seeing jan perform on stage and graduate from preschool… priceless.

or pricey? hehe.

6 months postpartum and i cringe whenever i pass by a mirror. i still look pregnant, demmet. i’m losing inches… um, ok, maybe just millimeters (if not weight), because i could fit in more comfortably in some clothes that were a tighter fit a couple of months ago. but if i look at my silhouette, it looks like i’ve been adding weight instead of losing!

the recent trip to pinas didn’t help. i ate so much it came to a point i actually said i’m fed up with eating. and then there’s christmas. i’m definitely not passing on the stollen and gingerbread cookies! if you take those from me, might as well do away with christmas altogether as those are the only remaining things i really look forward to for this year’s holidays!

but next year. ah, next year. i’ve never been one to make new year resolutions, but i need to take better care of my health and i’m making plans for 2009. no, i’m not going to buy diet pills just yet. but i’ll make it a goal to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes before mia turns one!

there. i said it. hopefully that shames me into moving my butt. i have five months to reach he goal.

“mom, you know, afif is in love with sara.”
“really? and you? who are you in love with?”
“no one!”
“not grace? shi zhen? yolanda?”
“i just like them, but i’m not in love with them.”
“what’s the difference? ”
“if you’re in love with a girl, you want to marry her. like dad married you. afif wants to marry sara. even though he sometimes thinks she’s stupid.”

indeed. that’s the way love is, son.

the problem in going on a break is getting back on track. i’ve been back to singapore on monday and have yet to write a single entry on my blogs. arrgh. my former boss at irri has a term for this: gathering critical mass, hehe. and it’s not just me; mia is also taking a while to get used to being back home. she’s probably missing the adulation and arms (!) of the folks in pinas, and wondering where all her fans are.

it’s been busy on the home front, though, and our calendar for the rest of the year is peppered with jan’s commitments. he’s been chosen to be one of the main actors in a play for their graduation concert and has been going to rehearsals for the last few weeks in preparation for the event on nov 22. tomorrow, we’ll all be attending an orientation program organized by the new primary school he’ll be attending in january. come december, there’ll be another tae kwon do grading, and hopefully he earns another stripe on his yellow belt. there will also be two intensive getting-ready-for-school programs, one organized by his current kindergarten, and another 4-day program organized by his new school to ease the transition into primary school. in between these, we’re also trying to squeeze in a short getaway for when opa comes for a visit over the christmas period. wish we were planning Orlando vacations (Disneyland!), instead, but alas, no.

i have the feeling the next 6 weeks until the year’s end will go in a blur. why is it that after a short pause, it feels like life is going on fast forward?