facts of life

1. cockroach vs. man: 'roach wins. every time.
2. cockroach in room = sleepless night. even if it's dead.
3. cockroaches reproduce de novo. no doubt about it.

my knees are still trembling.

new species

psle mom n. the female parent of a child sitting the national primary school leaving examination (psle) during the year in discussion. the child sits the examination, not the mother. the term describes a consistent syndrome of paternal anxiety about the future coupled with increased hovering behavior and intense physical and financial educational investment. [f. E. psle (acronym) + mom (mother)]

recalcitrant part-timer n. a worker employed on prolonged part-time terms. usually a middle-aged female with older children or an empty nester who begins working part-time to facilitate child-care, and continues on part-time terms when the [part-time] state becomes self-perpetuating. [f. E. recalcitrant + part-timer]

very important considerations

here are the implications to the VIQs.

the bicycle's true nature will determine its rightful place. on the roads fully helmeted and duly and grudgingly respected. or on the sidewalks on a special lane. right now pity the pedestrian. and pity the cyclist. both endangered.

the motorcycle's true nature will determine its rightful behavior. occupying a full lane and duly if grudgingly respected. or death-defyingly slipping in between real vehicles. both endangered.

very important questions

i totally get that:

• we make choices
• we can choose to minimize our carbon footprint
• we can choose the bicycle

what i want to know is:

• is a bicycle a vehicle or a pedestrian?

for good measure, i also want to know:

• is a motorcycle a real vehicle or is it an aggressive bicycle?

apartment living

one inescapable feature of apartment living is the fact that you are exposed to your neighbors' piano practice. they are at it again, HOM tells me, in case i miss the tinkles. mostly mozart and beethoven, with the occasional ballade pour adeline. mostly elementary, where we live. mostly uninspired, i guess. but most of all DILIGENT. 

you might think that with all this practice they might be able to progress to something nicer by now, HOM says helplessly.

birds of a feather

work-life balance is the new mommy wars, it appears. or mommy wars are the new work-life balance. or mayhaps they are a subset of each other. 

whatever the case, the haves and the have-nots are arrayed on two sides of a clear divide. how do they think they will ever amount to much, the haves ask. or perhaps they are the have-nots. the day will come when they will have missed their children's entire childhoods, the have-nots say darkly. or perhaps those are the haves.

as for me and HOM, with all respect, our professional ambition is to retire.

seen and heard and felt

HOM and i do the quintessential singaporean holiday thing and visit a showflat. the place teems with couples with little bouncing children who unconcernedly brush you aside in their projectile motion across rooms. excuse me, i say to thin air, i was standing here before you exploded onto me! 

no more jumping on the beds, i hear a mother say to her son. which can only be predicated on prior jumping on beds, i tell HOM.

it is an incontestable fact that some children are adorable primarily to their own parents.

blink of an eye

the super long lunar new year weekend draws to an end. in case you were wondering, HOM and i spent most of it taking a nap. 

new life 2

what you see on the windshield in the early mornings:

over in the temperate regions they call it frost.

over here in the tropics we call it dew.

new life

we miss the dishwasher so so much.

pffft

the boxes are empty. the cartons are gone. the pictures are up. even the ones i forget to tell the handyman, on account of HOM gallantly stepping in to remediate. the new TV is in, over-sized and over my protests. the floors are slowly approaching a semblance of smooth submission. 

the long weekend begins. i quite realize that HOM and i will be spending much of it recovering from the move, the most important holiday in the chinese calendar notwithstanding.

john 15:7

spirit of God descend upon my heart/ wean it from earth, through all its pulses move/ stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art/ and make me love Thee as i ought to love.

sometimes it takes years to see the vessel take shape, and then one day you look and the jar sits there, quite unexpectedly freshly formed. not fully formed, but bearing the marks of the potter's hand.

for J2

how quickly time passes when it passes. how tardy it is as it passes. my child the little firebrand with the impish smile. my child all serious intent and determination. my child broken on the hospital bed. my child tossed by life's lessons and springing back up. my child discovering the world in all its glory and dross. my child, because of whom i am stronger gentler more crushed and infinitely richer.

i bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... that He would grant you... to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your [heart] through faith; that you... may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. - eph 3:14-19

may God keep you in the hollow of His hand.

new & old

what i like about the new place:

i get a choice of what to wear each day!

what i love about the new place:

living on a single story

what i miss about the old place:

the space

new home!

i know. i can't quite believe it either.

but unbelievably amazingly and entirely by God's grace

we appear to be ready for the lunar new year.

that is to say, we will be ready once the handyman puts up the pictures.

ready, get set.

the internet is up in our new apartment. the 'phone is connected, not that we even know the number, these being days of cellphone hegemony. our server is running. the wireless network is functioning at full speed. the bose is playing bluetooth music.

bring in the kitchen supplies, i say, and we are good to go. well, fine, bring in the books and the clothes too.

yippeee

well now, the container's arrived on these 'ere shores and been discharged to customs too. 'twould appear we are on track to move soon?

it feels like we've been moving for a full half year, which isn't quite the exaggeration it sounds like. as it turns out, we are just a month shy of that, if you start counting from when we started packing and mentally transitioning to now. 

these days the hotel staff think we've taken up a lease with them.