Ponder

What does one do when caught between restless teens and a disciplinary bend? How do you tread the fine line? Is there a fine line? You so badly want to believe you brought them up to have common sense and moral ballast that will steer them away from emotional mistakes that can spell the end of their school career yet deep inside you recall mistakes others have made and your guts instinctively recoil. Others who were equally brought up to know when not to cross the line. Peer pressure and the heat of the moment can put paid to years of careful socialization and value enculturation. An old Chinese proverb says it right: one mis-step can lead to thousand year of regret.. I look at the last of them all and wonder when it will all end and I can at long last, lay down the burden and rest.

Changes

I could have sworn the Half Man's voice is breaking. He sounds positively hoarse but he maintains he has a bad throat. We shall see.

Spring is not here yet the breathe of spring is in the air. The flowers are starting to bloom in our tiny tiny backyard. Marvellous to behold and a joy to the heart. More to come. I am being harrassed to yield the comp.

Mulling

First week back at work and it seems like I had not been away although momentum has not quite picked up with some people still on vacation. This month is usually just people stuff - getting appraisals done and with the largest team I ever had to manage, it is a fair bit of work. But it is interesting to note the change of behavior in some folks for obvious reasons. Goodwill and letting you know what they are doing that are interesting/important/...

I am a cynic. Sorry.

Life is pretty quiet at the moment. Just like the staff appraisal, maybe it is a good time to take stock of what was accomplished in the last year and look forward to see what we can do this year to make the world, or maybe just our acre of the world, a little better. Certainly, I have slacked a tremendous amount in just the year away from Singapore on exercise. I miss the long walks around Serangoon Garden, MP3 player in the ears, gazing and admiring the houses and the changing facade of the estate mostly because I was a busybody who liked to see how others had done up their houses. I also miss running which I had to give up because of the damage it was doing to the knees. The feeling after you have run 4 or 5 km is addictive. The cold of winter just does not make going outdoor on foot all that appealing. But today, I forced myself to down the pair of Asics and went for an hour long walk up and down Westside Drive. And it was wonderful. The weather was not so bad and after 10 minutes of trudging up the sloping road, you don't feel the cold anymore. Listening to Mr Brown's satirical podcasts on the little red dot just made the walk all that much more enjoyable. I gotta do this more often. Should try and walk instead of working through lunch hour at the office but the flesh is weak. There are just too many excuses...

Well, there's tennis tomorrow. Hopefully. It has been three weeks.

We have become too addicted to the television since we came here. Without the usual circle of families and friends, there is little to compete for your attention. And there are so many channels here. Lots of reruns of course. I have never watched as much television as I have in the past year. Pretty much caught up on all past episodes of CSI (all 3 versions), House, Two and a Half Men, the list goes on. Recently favorites - Cold Case, NCIS, Women Murder Club and very lately, Cashmere Mafia which just ran its second episode. New ABC offering and quite entertaining. If it comes to Singapore, do watch it. Especially for those who have been to business school.

Watching the tube has its advantages. It keeps us from trying getting in each other's way so tempers don't flare more than they already do. Pathetic.

Update

Outside the rain pours and the wind howls. But still it is not as bad here as it is in many other parts of the Bay Area hammered by sheets of water blown sideways, almost parallel to the ground, by gusty winds of up to 70 mph. On the tube, you can see continuous broadcasts of flooding in different places, 18-wheelers overturned by the strong winds and big rigs colliding on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge forcing CalTrans to close the bridge since early in the morning and clogging up the highways and roads around Marin County. Massive traffic jams up and down 101 and 580. North Bay has been the most drenched but the storms are moving south. Trees and power lines are down in different places and flights in SFO are delayed. Power is out for 50,000 in the Peninsula, 20,000 in East Bay, etc., etc. There are warnings of pounding waves and high surfs of up to 30 ft along the coast so people are told to stay clear. Just why anyone would even venture out to the beach on a day like this bewilders me. If your home is threatened, you can go get free sandbags at many places. The ski resorts are closed as they hunker down for up to 8 feet of snow this few days. And in the midst of all the chaos, a touching human/animal story. A family of beavers in Martinez had built a dam in Alhambra Creek - residents in this flood susceptible area do not have the heart to remove the beavers. These hardworking animals have built up quite a following over the past year. So people resorted to lowering the dam and cutting off the branches that the beavers use to build their home, to reduce the chance of flood but the beavers were soon back at it, rebuilding the dam. This morning, one of the younger beavers was seen behaving oddly and sent for treatment. The poor critter is sick and blind and now undergoing blood tests and anti-biotic treatment.

So this is our first experience of a major weather condition in California. We are huddling at home, peering occasionally out the windows or front door at the rain. It is past noon and the rain will soon ease up as the storm clouds blow south.

Parched California is getting drenched with a vengeance.

Stormy Season

This is going to be a real stormy remainder of the week. There are 3, yes, 3 storms heading for the Bay Area and we are expecting much rain (relatively speaking for typically dry California), as much as 5 inches on Friday, and high winds of up to 50 to 65 miles per hour. So the Half Man and I are heading out to the stores to stock up on supplies and some emergency stuff (torchlights?) so we can hunker down till the rains and winds ease up sometime on Sunday. This is so exciting! Much more later. We are going...

Countdown

A new year has dawned on all parts of the world. A Happy New Year to all my family and friends scattered across half the world.

Last night was peaceful and strangely lonely compared to a year ago when we had family from both sides seated around our new dining table cheering each other with apple cider from Albertson's. Last night, the Man and I were huddled beneath swaddles of blankets watching an awesome live performance by the New York Philharmonic at the Lincoln center in NY and marvelling at the sounds that came from Joshua Bell's violin as he played an incredible piece with the orchestra. The finale - Bolero - was just spell binding. And then we switched to watch a million people gathered at Times Square to count down to 2008. And wondered where our Carynn was and why she had cut off all communications with us. And talked to Bean about home remedies for her food poisoning in between wishing her a more successful new year. And incredibly, the Man gave permission to Nic to sleep over at Marta's so wondered if she was making herself welcomed. And nagged the Half Man about spending too much time on the comp watching a funny man in bright yellow plastic boots and his family going about their antics rather than not enjoying the New York Philharmonic.

And amidst all these events, we made a couple of calls to a tiny red dot somewhere near the equator and found out to our great dismay that a certain young lady had decided SP was not for her and that she would be better off getting her credentials in the University of Life. If you are reading this, young lady, please know that in many job positions these days in large companies, a masters degree is often asked for. "O" levels are a minimum requirement for taxi drivers and factory operators. Even a floor shop technician needs a Poly diploma. So please listen to your parents and your aunts and uncles and finish your studies. My heart bled when I heard the news.

May all of you have a blessed 2008 filled with good cheer, good health, steady progress towards your goals and much happiness.