Fill 'er up

Allan fondly recalls the days when his grandmother would hand the gas station attendant a $5 bill to fill up the tank of their car-- you know, the pre-self-service days. While he refuses to acknowledge this as a testatment to how old he is, this anecdote does provide a striking contrast to the gas station experience today.

I spied this on Jenny's blog on her Jenkat site (have you visited it? www.jenkat.com) and had to laugh. So very apt nowadays! I present you with the value of a $5 at a gas station today:



This next shot was taken at our corner gas station last week. Santa Barbara is not known for cheap prices-- in anything. Gas is no exception. Thankfully, this station is one of THE most expensive stations in my neck of the woods, and just a few miles away regular unleaded can be purchased for just under $4 a gallon. Still...!!!

What's in a name, Part 2

I don't know exactly how this came about but I was having a conversation with Lisa and the topic turned to names. Next thing we knew we spouted off all sorts of funny name-related anecdotes. I mused that we could take the transcript of that IM and title it "What's in a name?"

As the conversation progressed, I thought-- well, why not?

A few highlights:

It was Allan who started it all (isn't that just like him-- always starting something!). He's got a rather unique spelling of his name-- most people go by "Alan", some by "Allen". His version is the rarest of them all. Ironically, it's the (originally) British spelling and yet I understand that, like in the US, "Alan" is more common than "Allan" over in the UK.

Then we got to talking about alternate spellings of common names, like "Aimee" for "Amy", which must've been popular around the time I was born, because I went to school with more Aimees than I can remember!

One of my favorite "One Big Happy" cartoons involves a punk teenage babysitter showing up at the door, proudly proclaiming her name and emphasizing its strange spelling: "My name is Typhanni".

When I was a little girl I was enchanted by the name "Kyril". Never mind that I never actually heard of anyone with that name. But "Carol" or "Karen" or even "Kyra" just seemed too ordinary. Later on I settled for a more conventional "Elizabeth".

I know a girl named Jenniper, whose name is a cross between Jennifer and Juniper. Poor girl is always having to emphasis the "p", just like I have to emphasize the "H" in my name, which most people want to say/write as "Kelly".

I also knew a girl named Jennifer Ann. One day she decided that "Jenny" wasn't glamorous enough, so she legally changed it to "Gabriella" ("Ella" for short). But then there was the problem of what to do with her middle name-- keep it as is, make a new one, what? So she decided on a middle ground: she smushed the letters of her original name together and became Gabriella Jenniann. I remember calling her at home once. She wasn't in, I talked to her parents and left a message. The thing I remember to this day was the fact that I referred to her as "Ella" while her parents kept saying "Jenny". Guess they weren't too thrilled with her changing the name they picked out for her?


How about nicknames?

Allan's immediate family calls him "Al" most of the time-- a name I can't stand. It sounds too greasy and seems more like the name of a Mafia don than an ordinary husband and father. Lisa's daughter has the opposite problem: Family uses the given Jessica, "Jess" to everyone else.

One of my uncles (who grew up and lives in Asia) didn't realize that "Charlie" is a nickname for "Charles", and so basically the same name. In his desire to give his sons English names, he named one Charlie and the other Charles.

And terms of endearment?

Well, Allan and I very rarely refer to each other by name-- it's always "Sweetie". We've gotten so used to it that the last time we visited with his family, Allan kept accidentally calling his sister "Sweetie"! I don't know who was more grossed out-- him or Debbie ;-)

How about you? Any interesting name-related tidbits to share, whether anecdotal or from real life?

The Birthday Paradox (plus Friday Five)

Have you ever heard of the birthday paradox? It is a statistical problem with a surprising solution. Given a room full of X people, how large must X be in order to achieve a 50:50 chance of finding 2 people with the same birthday? The answer is surprisingly small: 23.

But I think I throw that statistic out of whack. Of all my friends and acquaintances (both offline and online), I know not one, not two, but THREE people who share my birthday. Even more amazingly? TWO of them were born the exact same YEAR as me. One of them is Nine from Germany, a Myspace friend. The other is Francois, whom I know through the Geekhouse at UCSB. In fact, we once tried to figure out who was older, in terms of hours. I think Francois won. And then there's Justin, who's a year younger than me. Now, the funny thing is that the three of us (me, Francois and Justin) learned about out our shared birthday during a cocktail party at the Geekhouse. Those aren't large affairs. There are typically only around 25 people at such shindigs. So, here we are, in a house with JUST the right amount of people to fulfill the birthday paradox... and we ended up with a 100% chance of finding 3 of us. Neat, isn't it?

Anyway, without further ado, here is today's Friday Five. And just to keep this post from getting too long, I shall join the rest of you in answering them on the comments.

p.s. if you're experiencing deja vu, it's because I recycled some of the questions from a birthday-themed Friday Five that I did a couple years ago on Grab. Ah, sue me-- it's been long enough that most of us will have forgotten what the others originally wrote ;-)

1. How many candles were on your last birthday cake? And when is your birthday?

2. Does anyone else (famous and/or in your own life) share your birthday?

3. Do you think your astrological sign fits you pretty well? Why or why not?

4. Surprise parties: love 'em or hate 'em?

5. What do you want for your next birthday?

BONUS QUESTION:

6. Other than your loving partner (heh), from whom would you most like to receive a birthday kiss?

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/389226471)

Nobody NEEDS to see the space shuttle!

I just finished sorting out a few bills tonight, writing some checks for things that I can't pay online and/or with credit card. You know, the "old fashioned" way ;-)

Amongst my checks was a donation to Todd's preschool. They recently merged with another church in the community, putting pressure on the space and resources they have to accommodate everyone for their activities-- the preschool, the after-school youth groups, the church itself, etc... and so, the fundraising begins.

I am reminded that in a very short time Todd will be in elementary school and coming home with boxes of chocolate he's supposed to sell. It will be easy in our household-- we'll just fork out some dough for donations, rather than force Todd to go door-to-door, pestering the neighbors. And of course, there is the question of WHAT exactly the donation is for, which plays a big role in just how enthusiastically we'll contribute :-P

Have you ever seen the George Lopez show? If not, it's an American sitcom featuring comedian George Lopez as the head of his typical Mexican-American middle class household. One episode dealt with his young son selling yet another batch of candy bars to raise money for some such deal deemed important by the school. Or maybe it was just the PTA. At any rate, when George discovered that the money was going towards a trip to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to watch the space shuttle launch, he put his foot down. As he put it, he has no problem donating money to things kids actually need for a proper education. Books, computers, etc... all fall within that realm. But a fancy field trip? When kids could learn just as much about space through books and videos? Hardly a basic necessity, and enough is enough! Worse yet, the parents that couldn't (or wouldn't) contribute were looked down upon, either as being poor or being unsupportive. The highlight of the show was George's argument with the head of the PTA, trying to convince her that while seeing it up close is neat, "nobody (actually) NEEDS to see a space shuttle launch!"

So far Todd's school needs have been pretty basic and we feel the money's going to good causes. But I still wonder what lies ahead, and what sorts of programs we'll be duped into supporting at his future schools. I am most certainly not looking forward to weeding it all out. I'm with George Lopez-- I have no problem shelling out cash or other resources to ensure Todd and the kids get a good education, but I'm a little more reserved about paying for the frills and fringe benefits that nobody really NEEDS.

Whoever thought childhood education could turn into such a political machine? I wonder how many other such "PTA heads" I'll run into myself!

Any advice or horror stories from battle-weary parents who've been there and done that?

Adam's Accountat @ Home

This blog post is dedicated to Kendra :-) You'll see why in a sec.

Anyone ever read the comic strip "Adam @ Home" by Brian Basset? It used to be called just plain "Adam" until he revamped it with a focus on Adam working from home. For those of you out of the loop: as the title suggests, Adam, father of 3, works from home, enabling him to look after the kids while his wife works at a conventional office. Naturally this gives him a totally different perspective from the rest of us, on "the workplace". Observe:

A couple weeks before income tax filings were due in the U.S., here were the strips that were featured on Adam @ Home:













Now, why does this remind me of Kendra? Because she, like Adam, works from home and because she, like the other guy in the pink slippers, works in the accounting field!

So... Kenzie, does that mean you find yourself sitting on both sides of that table, when it comes time to doing your taxes? ;-)

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/387050214)

Boys Will Be Boys

I'm sure most of my readers can relate. Even if you don't have a little boy yourself, you probably know somebody who does. Or else you've dealt with men closely in your life, and, well, what can I say? Men = boys, just physically bigger.

Here's what I want to know. Do ALL boys come with this innate affinity for guns and shooting and the like?

See, we've never exposed Todd to that sort of thing. He doesn't even watch cartoons like that. When this first surfaced, he never even *played* with other kids who loved to play shoot-em-up. Heck, he didn't play with other kids, period! And the grownups sure didn't play cops and robbers. So-- what's the deal? As soon as he sets foot in the toy section of a store, he makes a beeline for the guns.

At home, he makes makeshift weapons. The cardboard tube from a paper towel roll. A vacuum extension. His toy golf clubs. His own hands! Really stretches the creative imagination. And as much as we discourage him from "shooting", he enjoys it the way most kids enjoy a bowl of ice cream.

Why do boys seem to be born with this? Why do they all gravitate to it even if they've never seen a gun before?

Moreover, what did children a few centuries ago use? Did they use sticks and play swordfight? What about kids of the prehistoric era, when swords or knives hadn't even been invented yet? Did they chuck pine cones at each other, pretending they were rocks?

Sigh... boys!!

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/385011057)

Photo Fun

I love having a camera phone. It comes in so handy when I want to snap photos of things that just happen to tickle my fancy wherever I am. It's not practically to always tote around my camera, but my phone? That's something that is always with me. Granted, it's a simple VGA camera, one in which even Lucia's 2MP phone cam could put it to shame. But it provides surprisingly good-quality pictures, especially close up. And so I am able to share a few random shots I've felt compelled to capture this past few weeks.

First up: I found Treasure Island! This was on a door that presumably led to a conference room in our old office building:



I had no idea Treasure Island was so close by and that we needn't fly off to faraway fairy tale lands to find it! I especially liked the Hollywood-esque star at the bottom of the sign.

Now, the local Rite-Aid is shutting down, and so has been having closeout sales for sometime. The other day, we sauntered in, seeing if we could find any good deals. Though we didn't end up buying anything, I was richly rewarded with a good giggle when I spied this little rack sign/item mismatch:



I've always thought Slim Jims and beef jerky were bad for your teeth, but man! Wait till you try gnawing on a plastic toothbrush! And those bristles? Impossible to chew, I tell ya!

Finally, a non-funny. This was my breakfast yesterday. Our company provides us with free fruit in the kitchen. Every Monday a bountiful harvest is stocked: grapes, strawberries, bananas, oranges, and apples. Yesterday I took the time to wash and cut up some fruit and made a nice plateful. It looked so rich and healthful and colorful that I couldn't resist taking a pic of my plate of strawberries, apple slices and grapes. With orange juice and a cup of hot steaming green tea on the side:



Mmmm.... breakfast of champions! :-D

(originally posted: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/384280522)

Brief Update, and the Friday Five!

Brief updates on what's going on:
Last weekend we went to my sister-in-law's house to celebrate her 40th birthday. It was a record-breakingly hot day, temps hovering in the 90s, and we brought a change of clothes for Todd so he could enjoy playing with the squirt guns. After his aunt taught him the art of taking potshots at Daddy, he especially enjoyed it! :-) Unfortunately, not long after we arrived, I came down with a fever and chills and had to retire to the guest room for most of the celebration. When you're huddled under a fleece blanket inside a room with no air conditioning while it's 90+ degrees out, and you're STILL shivering, you know it's bad. Fortunately, I was pretty much recovered come Monday, so no lost time at work.

Allan finished another milestone in his degree progress, inching his way closer to finishing being a student, finally! It's been a busy, hectic couple of weeks. Allan's had to stay late at the office often to finish stuff up for school (in addition to work), so I've pretty much been playing the role of "single mom" for a little while. It's HARD. I don't know how single moms do it, especially with more than one kid. My hat's off to them!

We had another parent-teacher conference at Todd's school, he's doing well, aside from his exceptional shyness. He's so timid that it's often hard to gauge how he's actually doing, what he's thinking, or if he's even picking up on what he's being taught. But we know he picks it up, he just doesn't regurgitate. Ah well, Mommy wasn't so different as a little girl (or even now, for that matter!) so what can you expect?

And now... the Friday Five. I picked some relatively easy ones this week, enjoy!

Name five (or more, or less-- I know how hard it can be to come up with exact numbers of things)...

1. ... things you can't live without.

a. Chapstick! My lips get very dry
b. Water (I'm not being cheeky, I like having something to drink near me at all times)
c. My computer
d. My warm comfy bed with my warm blanket and soft pillow :-D

2. ... of the best moments in your life.

(these are pretty generic and refer to overall events rather than specific ones, but those are the ones I tend to remember better!)
a. Whenever Todd does/learns something new, it's wonderful to see his little brain light up as he absorbs and applies a new concept
b. The next day after recovering from a bout with illness. I feel recharged, like a brand-new woman, not taking good health for granted! This has become especially apparent this past few months, when I seem to be getting sick every couple weeks, which is about the frequency with which Todd comes down with some new bug he's picked up at school. Sigh. I hate putting him in full-time day care :-(

3. ... celebrities you can't stand.

a. Sean Astin. He was the guest of honor at one of our Military Balls, and let's just say-- he was as arrogant and full of himself as you'd expect.
Hmmm... can't really think of anyone else. Sure, Paris Hilton and her ilk annoy me, but not to the point that I can't stand them. Maybe because I've never actually met them in person, unlike Sean Astin.

4. ... books you enjoy(ed) reading.

a. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
b. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
c. Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg
d. Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck
e. The "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

5. ... items in your purse/backpack/on your desk.

a. Chapstick (surprised?)
b. Lotion
c. Wallet
d. Gum
e. Toothpicks
f. Tissue
g. Comb

(as you can tell, I like to be prepared! My purse is a veritable personal hygiene bag-- all I need is a toothbrush!)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/381357404)

Friday Five-- a nice little collection

I abandoned the weekly "Friday Five" on my Grab blog a long time ago-- I think it's been about a year. Back then, they were pretty simple questions to answer, most took only a sentence or two. And the fun part was when friends commented, for each answered the five questions in the comments section. Hilarity often ensued, especially with the more risque questions ;-) But interest waned as one by one, people abandoned the site, and so I gave up trying to keep the "weekly tradition" up.

The Friday Five community, however, is still alive and well out there and I decided to finally take a peek and answer one of the sets of questions I found interesting and a little more thought-provoking than "What's your favorite color?"

And so, here it is-- a mini-survey of sorts, ringing in Friday with... the Friday Five!

1. What song would you sing to your newborn child? (OR if you already had a child, which song did you sing to him/her?)

The usual classic lullabies. But I always hated the original "Rock-a-bye Baby"-- I mean come on, who puts cradles in trees, and why the hell would you want to sing about the poor kid falling from it!? So, I made up my own verse:

Rock-a-bye baby in Mommy's arms
While Mommy's singing, baby nods off
When Mommy's finished, baby's asleep
Good night, my darling, and pleasant dreams

There... isn't that a much nicer visual than a plummeting cradle with baby in it?

2. How do you think animals think? (i.e. in animal language, human language, etc.)

I am convinced they think we humans are crazy, for one. I'm sure they wonder why we make such a big fuss over all kinds of things in our lives. It's really pretty simple: eat, sleep, play, stay warm, stay safe. As far as languages go-- each has their own (haven't we all listened to dolphins squeaking at each other underwater?), but since we can train animals to respond to commands, they have some ability to pick up bits of a "foreign" language ;-)

3. As a child, did you have a dream to make a difference in the world? Can you describe your dream?

Not really. Quite honestly, I think "making a difference in the world" is far too lofty for most kids to even be able to think about. There ARE some young, precocious children who are aware of that concept, but most likely it's because they learned it from their parents. I dreamed of what kids usually dream about: being rich and famous, or working with animals, or having a little family and playing house, etc...

4. Do you believe in God/a Higher Being?

Absolutely. There are far too many marvels in the world, and its existence alone is too precise for it to all have come out of nothing or random chance. One thing I never understood is the conflict between science and faith. To me, they aren't contradictory, they are complementary-- science is just a way to study and understand God's creations-- within the limits of our own human minds, of course.

Have you ever seen the Simpsons episode where Lisa creates a tiny world in a petri dish? Its inhabitants regard her as their "God". Everything they know of their world is contained in that petri dish, and they hail Lisa as the creator of everything in that world. Silly cartoon? Maybe. But I find it a pretty good analogy to our own world-- there's a vast amount of stuff we don't understand/aren't aware of. Our own perspective of the world around us is pretty limited, and though we may never arrive at all the answers, they ARE out there-- and science is one means of figuring things out.

5. Do you believe in aliens?

This kind of relates to the previous question. As vast as this universe is, it stands to reason that we aren't the only forms of life around. After all, Lisa Simpson could easily create another petri dish flourishing with life, right? ;-) So... yes... I don't think we are alone in this universe.

... and btw, my favorite color is orange. Followed closely by purple.

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/376997266)

Dressing can be hazardous to your health

Owie... have you ever wrenched your shoulder by the mere act of pulling on a shirt over your head? I have. Not once. Not twice. A few times. And every time, it’s been inside a dressing room of a store.

I don’t know what it is-- maybe it’s because my movement is restricted due to the small size of the stalls, making me perform contortions. Or maybe it’s because the whole point of dressing rooms is to TRY on clothes, and I’m unwittingly putting on something ill-fitting.

No matter the reason-- it hurts like a bitch! I invariably end up straining the top of my shoulder, the back of it, and all along the front to my breastbone. And it usually remains sore for at least a few days afterward.

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

On another note, I enjoyed a dinner with my group at work last night. There’s a lot of us-- around 60 total, and we enjoyed Mexican food, margaritas and beer at a huge restaurant overlooking the ocean in downtown Santa Barbara. The food was good, but so was the company. Add yet another reason why I’m enjoying working here so much more than my old company. Over there, I always had trouble finding people to hang out with. Sure, there was a huge group of college hires, but not only were they widely dispersed throughout the company (meaning little contact with them outside of college-hire-related activities), but most of them were fresh out of college and in their early 20s. On the flip side, most of my colleagues had families of their own and high-school-aged kids. It was basically two opposite ends of the spectrum: the young, yuppie-yet-partying crowd on one end, and the old, family-oriented folks on the other end. There was hardly anyone in my age group, and in the middle of that spectrum. Here, the majority of my colleagues are closer to my age, and probably have more in common. So it’s kind of nice. I had a good time last night and look forward to more social activities with my colleagues :-)

And now that lunch has arrived, I shall pick it up and eat :-9

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/376101857)

Fortune Cookie

I’m struggling to keep my eyes focused as I type this. Just when I thought my days of staying up late catching up on schoolwork were over... I get to proofread part of Allan’s thesis. Now, you’d figure that since I’m only checking for grammatical correctness, it shouldn’t take that long, since I don’t need to study it or understand the content, right? Just make sure a sentence parses correctly. Weeellll... you’d be right, except when it comes to this die-hard grammar police, I ended up picking through it with a fine-tooth comb, bleeding red ink all over the place, and staying up past 1am finishing it.

Consequently, I came in this morning feeling a bit under the weather, so I headed straight to the kitchen, hoping to grab an apple to munch .. all, they are supposed to do a better job at waking you up than coffee. Alas, no apples, and it was too early in the morning for the facilities folks to restock them. So, a cup of coffee (loaded with milk and sugar) it is. And you know me-- I don’t normally drink coffee. Especially after my awful coffee mishaps! On the rare occasion that I do-- you know it’s gotta be pretty bad. Like being rousted at 4am for an alert (practice deployment drill) during my Army days.

In any event, here I sit, slowly waking up, eating strawberries and grapes, sipping sugar water tinged with coffee, and pondering a tiny slip of paper in front of me-- something I picked out of a fortune cookie during lunch last week. It reads:

The riches of others makes you more valuable.

And I know it’s not just my addled brain this morning, for it didn’t resonate with me back when I opened it, and it still doesn’t make much sense now. So, I leave it to you, dear readers-- what on earth do you think that little piece of "wisdom" means??

p.s. Do you use Gmail? Have you seen the newest Gmail feature? Check it out: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html

:-D

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/372942506)

Clouds and Silver Linings

LJ Writer’s Block question: What’s the worst thing that could happen to you today? Bonus question: How would that thing potentially benefit you?

In answering this question, I actually want to hearken back several months, to my previous job. It was a pretty good job-- because of the nature of our work, there was little pressure to meet what few strict deadlines existed. Not to mention that our client base was a few hundred fellow employees, not paying consumers from the outside world. The fact that it was a large company meant the benefits were excellent-- health care was cheap, time off was generous, and retirement benefits were truly unbeatable.

Most of you were probably aware of the news of impending layoffs at the time, so it wasn’t a complete surprise when I turned out to be one of the few thousand affected. I guess the answer to the question above would be: losing my job. And it happened. Still, it wasn’t without its benefits, and that’s where the bonus question comes in.

I enjoyed 3 months "off" before I began working again. During that time, I got to stay home and spend lots of time with Todd, enabling me to bond with my little boy, something I could never do before (leaving the house at 9am, returning at 8pm-- shortly before his bedtime). I enjoyed taking him to and from school, helping him with his homework at home, and generally doing all sorts of mommy-child activities together. My mother fell ill in December and being home full time enabled me to not only look after Todd while she was at various appointments (and then the surgery itself), but look after the household and take care of my mom.

Then there is the job itself. Though the benefits aren’t quite so stellar (but what can you expect when the company is a fraction of the size of my old one?), they are decent. More importantly, I’m really enjoying it here. I’ve learned a lot and continue to do so every day. The atmosphere is decidedly different-- more laid-back, less stuffy. There’s a difference between "casual" and "business casual", after all. While at first Allan and I were a bit skeptical of how working together would affect our relationship (would we be sick of each other?) it has turned out to work well for us. We have a nice, harmonious routine and incredible flexibility in changing our schedules so one of us is always available to look after Todd while he’s with us in SB till summer. Plus, quite frankly, it’s nice to have tech help I can guiltlessly prod for help whenever I need it, just a flight of stairs away :-)

And I know I’ve mentioned this before, but not having to commute at least 45 minutes one way each day, is FANTASTIC! There is something to be said for seeing daylight when you go home in the evening-- even during the short days of the winter months!

I know I’ve addressed the blog question of the day retrospectively. But it does indeed exemplify the "silver lining in every cloud" adage. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe that nothing is an accident or coincidence. And I believe that it’s always possible to look back upon unhappy and disappointing events and see the good things that have come out of it. You may think that’s the eternal optimist in me speaking, but I challenge you to look back on your own less-than-golden memories and find a silver lining. Or two. Really adds perspective, doesn’t it?

They've gone and done it

I've been trying to sell Allan for years. In fact, I've offered people MONEY to take him off my hands. Strangely, I never seem to have any takers. So what makes the menagerie think they will have any better luck trying to offload Allan's offspring on some unsuspecting buyer?

For Sale Ad (if you haven't already seen it)

Speaking of buying things, last weekend we finally went ahead and purchased a memory foam mattress. We got a full-sized one for the futon. That means we won't be able to put the futon into its upright position, but we haven't anyway-- while Todd lives with us, I sleep out on the futon while Daddy and little man share the queen bed in the bedroom. We got a pretty good deal on one-- $475, made cheaper because it's not the TempurPedic brand (I rarely do brands, anyway) and because the place spends little overhead on the frills and upkeep of an actual indoor store-- everything is inside a couple warehouses. But the salesmen were very friendly, very knowledgeable, and very easygoing-- no pressure tactics, just the information the customer needs. If you live here and ever need a new mattress, I'd highly recommend them: Mattress Mike in Goleta :)

Okay, that little plug over-- the mattress has been pretty good so far. I think it's still in the break-in period, a little firmer than it should be, so my back is still occasionally sore sometimes upon awakening, but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. It's a good test drive-- if it works out well, we'll buy a bigger one when we have our own house someday.

On another note: a physiological oddity: the knuckle of my left hand's ring finger has taken to having occasional "hot flashes" out of nowhere. Without warning, I'll suddenly get this flood of heat on the knuckle, almost like I'm exposing that little area to a flame or something. It lasts several seconds and then goes away. It's the darndest thing-- and the oddest sensation. Anyone ever experienced something like this before? What IS it, exactly?

Wow, almost dinnertime, and it's STILL light out. Yeah... I'm enjoying the longer days :-D Summer will be upon us before we know it!

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/365423228)

Growing up a loner

(From the LiveJournal "Writer's Block" list)
How do you think having siblings (or not having siblings) affects who you are as a person?

This is an interesting question. As most of you know, I am an only child, and have often wondered what life would've been like had my parents decided to give me a sibling. I remember sitting on the front steps of our apartment one summer when I was 8 years old, asking my mom if I could have one. Amused, she humored me with: "Would you prefer a brother or sister?". I expressed a preference for a sister, only to have Mom demur with "I'm too old". Which was actually true-- she was already 40 and even today it's still a bit risky to have kids at that age-- let alone over 20 years ago. So... no sister. Or brother.

I remember an activity we did in 4th or 5th grade-- the teacher had us all divide into groups based on birth order, and scatter to the corners of the room with our fellow only-children, firstborns, middles, etc... the onlies group had maybe 2 or 3 kids, me included. Then the teacher asked us to go into the group we WANTED to be in. No surprise-- quite a few kids wandered into our group, sick of the bickering and sibling rivalry that you always hear about. Me? I was too shy to actively walk to another group of kids, and at the same time I was also fascinated at hearing some of the "horror stories" from the kids who wished they had no siblings.

Growing up, I sort of assumed the "big sister" role, because the neighborhood was filled with kids who were all younger than me, by a range from 2 to 7 years. But that was only part of the time-- though we all played together often, it's not exactly like I spent all my waking hours with them. Still, if you've ever looked at those personality analyses based on birth order, the first-born and only-child profiles tend to be similar, so who knows how much of an influence spending time with younger kids had on shaping who I am today. Anyway, for the most part, I grew up a bit of a loner.

And to this day, that still holds true. Everywhere I've lived, every place I've gone to school or worked, it has always been the same story: I kept to myself more than anyone else, and thus always felt like a bit of an outcast. I had many acquaintances and colleagues and people I hung out with, and even people I knew well enough to actually call "friends", but the ones I could call *true* friends? Close friends? Few and far between. Granted, part of that is just who I am-- by nature, a shy and reserved person. But it does make you wonder if having a sibling would've mitigated that effect somewhat. Would I have been a little more at ease around other people if I had grown up having to deal with someone near my own age?

These days, I think of my son. He's even more "isolated" than I am. I have several aunts and uncles, and dozens of cousins-- even more than Allan does. Todd has one aunt and uncle, and will never have any cousins. As you can imagine, he can get pretty spoiled, being the only grandchild on both sides of the family, and nobody else (except "cousin" Sammy the Lhasa Apso) to compete with for attention from his extended family. We're 99.9% sure we won't have any more children, so Todd is destined to be an only child, just like Mommy. On rare occasions, however, I waver. I watch Todd playing with other kids (especially the younger ones) and it strikes me how he would make such a good big brother. It is rare that he gets to play with kids his own age, and grownups are never as fun to play with. As one neighborhood mother of three pointed out to me: the kids manage to keep themselves entertained, so there's actually less demand for your attention and time in that regard. Interesting point... but... no. Eh-- I think I turned out okay, and I'm sure Todd will be fine ;-)

Hmm, what was the original question again? I don't know if I've answered it. Probably because it can't really be answered, since you'll never really know how a different household scenario would've affected you. Maybe a lot, maybe not at all. As for me, I do think that being an only child probably reinforced my natural tendencies toward wallflower-like behavior. I think I'll always feel a bit like an outsider, never truly belonging to any social circle, never truly fitting in. Whether that means I wouldn't feel this way if I'd had siblings, or that I wouldn't have "fit in" well with my own family growing up anyway... well, I could ramble on and on, speculating... so I'll stop boring you and end this here :-)

Rise of the animals

An interesting little tidbit before I launch into my pitch. I just noticed that if you do a Google search for "weeples"-- well, guess what the first result to come up is? Oh, go on, try it! :-D
I thought it was really cool, too bad I don't blog there anymore, eh!

As if I didn't spend enough time on this blasted site, check out who one of my newest Myspace friends is. You might recognize a few of the faces from past blog entries I've written, either on here or on Todd's diary. They're new to the Myspace scene, and would love to see their friends list grow and their social network expand. So if you crack even half a smile at their profile, click the "Add" button... can't have too many friends in this world, especially loyal, cuddly, plush ones! :-D

http://www.myspace.com/stuffedmenagerie

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/363071793)