transposable element

and so i’m back. just as i thought everything was honky dory, i couldnt login to my blog for the longest time. just when there were things i so wanted to write, murphy’s law strikes yet again and i was locked out. oh well.

it’s already the second advent! yet another year almost over. but before that, a shopping fenzy awaits! actually, we’ve already done a small spree of sorts for this year’s advent calendar for the kids, running around town and searching for small items that could fit into the pouches i had sewn… by hand! we’ve also got a few items from this year’s wishlists ticked off although we’ve still a way to go before we’ve got everyone covered.

am also contemplating whether i should attempt (!) to write a family newsletter this year. i skipped writing one last year, as christmas came early whe we flew to europe on the 2nd week of december last year. this year, i’ve no alibi, except that life is just hectic. it’s crazy at work, and there’s no sign of letting up in the last weeks of the year, so am not really sure if i can manage to write one. it’s probably more realistic to get personalised postcard printing done, though: a photo, a few lines and it’s good to go. but then, am not sure if we actually have one decent family photo. hm, we’ll see…

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.

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.

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.

trying to declutter when you live with pack-rats is like raking leaves off your lawn before autumn is over. document management system? a friend recommended freedomfiler some time ago, but i’m not convinced it’s really what we need. most of our important documents are organized anyway (alright, semi-organized, but i can still find important docs and am on top of our bill payments); it’s the sheer amount of stuff we have, particularly books and manuscripts, that’s disproportionate to our living space, and drives me up the wall.

i don’t think i’m a clinical or pathological hoarder. in fact, over the years, having had to relocate from asia to europe and back to asia, i’ve lost that feeling of attachment to possessions. when you relocate halfway across the globe, and you are forced to do away with a major chunk of your stuff because it’s impractical to move them with you, you learn to become detached to material possessions. you free yourself from the emotional baggage, the so-called sentimental value you pin on certain items, that hampers your mobility.

but hubby… hm, a different species altogether. but let’s see. one more major relocation and i bet, he’ll be a convert, too.

i’m on another decluttering mode at the moment. i would have called it spring cleaning, except that there is no spring on this side of the earth. i’ve finally been able to convince hubby to part with some of his prized possessions– books– pointing out that until they’ve invented some kind of modern furniture that swallows stuff and regurgitates it as needed, we simply do not have the space to accommodate all our acquisitions. i’m still working on convincing him to shred his manuscript printouts, or some of them at least.

whereas other people commit to disposing a piece of garment or bag every time they purchase a new one, maybe we should implement such a f.i.f.o. rule regarding printed materials in this household.

you know you’ve had a revitalizing holiday when you come back eager to resume your life where you left off, even when it’s the same drudgery that awaits you. jan is back in school. mia starts tomorrow. hubby and i… we’re back in charge of our troop. life is good!