what is that infernal noise?!

As I sit here (inside the house), several things are accosting my ears. 1. World World (a PBS Kids show), 2. Monkey reciting World World, 3. Mouse babbling about some unknown topic, and 4. a loud, pulsating, buzzing noise that is outside, half a block away and driving me crazy! Three days, I tell you, three days of noise pollution. And no one really knows what it is or WHY it is.

I'm glad you, Reader, are captivated enough to read through the rants of my every day existence.

Obviously, I've been reading a lot, averaging a book a week at this point! Not to mention that I've been educating myself more and more about ABA. I do believe I have become a bookworm. It's about time, I missed this when I was in school! Reading what I want, when I want, and for however long I want.

I promise that I haven't just been reading, I have been making use of my life in other ways too. Therapy takes up a large chunk of my time, and has been a joyful challenge. After several supervised sessions, Dana has given her approval of how we're doing, but we both agreed that some changes needed to happen. In the last week, she has rearranged, rewritten, and revised many of Monkey's programs, as well as adding some new ones. This means that Monkey and I have tons of things to do before school starts.

And speaking of school, Mama Bear and I took the kids over to SAS (Singapore American School) yesterday to play on the playground. This was the first time that I had ever walked around inside, and it was AMAZING. The classrooms, the playgrounds, the grade common rooms, everything! I peeked inside a 3rd grade science room and it was decorated like a jungle with vines and animals hanging from the ceiling. I would go back to grade school if it meant that I could to this school. They even have a rooftop playground that has a tent like covering over it so that the kids can even play outside when it rains.

Needless to say, Monkey will be in good hands, and I will be finding excuses to go and visit his kindergarten class.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"

 Photo courtesy of Amazon

It was almost 10 and a half years ago that I was first introduced to Harry Potter. I remember it vividly...

I was in the seventh grade at Jefferson Middle School. It was lunch time and I walked up to my friends in the cafeteria. They were in the middle of a discussion about these books that they had all been reading. I peeked over their shoulders and piped up: "Who's Harry Potter?" The table fell completely silent. What do you mean, "who is Harry Potter?". The rest is basically history. One of them lent me the first one and I got hooked. This happened right before the 4th book came out, so I had just enough time to catch up on the first three. And then I had my first midnight book release experience.

Since that fateful day in 2000, I have read and reread and rereread the entire series as each successive book made its appearance. These books have been dear to me and always bring back wonderful memories of time spent with my friends and siblings.

As I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone this week, I not only felt constant pangs of nostalgia, but I also grew an even deeper appreciation for the series as a whole. Knowing how J.K. Rowling develops the characters and how the story eventually ends made me even more captivated with the beginning.

Next up, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets...

"I know why the caged bird sings"

Confession: this was the first time I've read a book by Maya Angelou all the way through. And it was one of the most heart-wrenching, emotional books I have read in quite sometime.

Photo courtesy of Angus Robertson

It is an autobiography, telling the story of Angelou's early life. With parents divorced during her toddlerhood, she is carted to the South with her brother to live with their grandmother. The reader follows her as she grows, suffers, learns, makes mistakes, and experiences life.

The tales that unfold intricately describe her experience as a Black in a world run by Whites, as a child in a world ruled by adults, and as a girl in a world ruled by men. Having cried my way through half of the book, it made me question how we can live a world that is so cruel. Angelou gives the account from the perspective of the oppressed, but never in a condescending way. She describes injustice as it is, a disease deeper than the individuals involved.

The stories played out in I know why the caged bird sings are beautiful and and horrifying and hopeful and devastating all at the same time. I recommend this book to anyone who has never read it, but please make sure that you are in an emotionally stable state of mind when you crack it open...

the park of parks

Today I went to the Park of parks. The paradise of all parks. The park that has everything any park-goer could possibly want. Pasir Ris Park runs along the river, and looks across to a smaller island belonging to Singapore. It is one of the most picturesque parks I have ever been to.

There are things to do for bikers, roller bladers, families, couples, single folk. dog walkers, kite fliers, kayakers, fishers, skateboarders, picnickers, grillers, sit-and-read-bookers, sunbathers (although, I don't think there is such a thing as an Asian sun-bather), and everything in between!

I rented a bike (~US$3.50 for 2 hours!) and cruised around the extremely smooth, extremely flat bike paths. How wonderful! In all honesty, I was scoping out the terrain so next time I can rent roller blades.

In other news, I have now know all the Thomas the Tank Engine trains by name and can sing the theme song in my sleep.

When I'm not in therapy, I'm either getting things ready for the next session (we're having them every day until school starts), helping watch the kids, walking through the neighborhood, or reading. It is most certainly a change of pace from all of my years in school. I've also been helping Mama Bear around the house, decorating and stuff. Yesterday, we put up these adorable jungle animals on the second floor landing. I'm seriously considering painting a mural around them.

Life has been pretty routine, which has actually been very good for me, I think. Stay tuned for the episode about FOOD.

My new wingman

Today, I figured out how to change the public perception of my WPness (white-person-ness). Cart around an adorable half-Asian kid. The focus shifts from check out that WP to check out that cute Asian kid with the WP.

I needed to go downtown to return some games that I had borrowed from Monkey's group therapy center. In a spontaneous act of kindness (towards Mama Bear and Monkey), I offered to take Mouse with me. The kid loves trains and so I figured what better way to spend the afternoon than riding the MRT with him. And so we set off.

Once we got to the MRT station, my little companion started the never ending chorus of Train! Train! Train! I assured him that this time we weren't just looking, we were going to ride. I folded up the stroller, took his hand, and we confidently stepped onto the escalator that would lead us to the platform. There it was: the ever so magical train. Mouse's eyes were wide with wonder as we boarded and found seats.

Immediately I noticed eyes being drawn to the tyke shouting Train! Train! Train! When smiles appeared around the car, they were returned with a grin from Mouse. He immediately took it upon himself to make a friend out of the lady next to him. With a toothy smile and a shy hi, he would be able to soften the heart of anyone. By the end of the ride he had flirted with about every girl in view and had melted all of their hearts.


We succeeded in the task that we had set out to do, and killed some time by exploring some of the malls nearby. By the time we got back to the MRT, rush hour was starting to set in. The train was packed like sardines, which didn't really meet the fancy of Mouse who was stuck in his stroller. When the crowds thinned out, I found a seat and let him sit on my lap. This time he captured the attention of the entire car full of people by laughing a high-pitched cackle of a laugh. Normally MRT cars are filled with somber, serious folks simply rushing to and from a laundry list of to-dos. Today, Mouse changed that. He made some smiles appear out of nowhere and hopefully a little distraction from the daily grind for those people.

Once again he introduced himself to half the people near him and entertained us all by shouting out letters he recognized in the train car ads. An Indian woman who sat next to him, was so infatuated she gave him a little teddy bear.

I came to the conclusion that Mouse makes a fantastic wingman and I should take him out more. My only problem is that he only picks up chicks...

"Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community"

 Photo courtesy of goodreads.com

Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community is a collection of essays written by Wendell Berry (who may be my new hero) in the early 1990s. I can honestly say that when I finished the last page I was sad for it to end. My jaw was left on the floor. We're talking 173 pages of intelligent, thought-provoking, mind-altering words.

Berry addresses all sorts of topics: agriculture, economy, government, war, sex, freedom, conservation, and community. Topics that wouldn't necessarily be dealt with together. But Berry shows that they are all interconnected and sometimes inseparable from each other. He has this ability to explain certain flaws in our society in light of the deeper issues that often aren't addressed or even associated with the flaws on the surface.

What really impressed me the most was the tone of the essays. Berry carries a humbling attitude, we're all in this together. He was realistic without being cynical, and when accusatory there was not a hint of condescension.

I am still trying to process everything that I read in this book, so let me leave you with this:

The trouble with the various movements of rights and liberties that have passed among us in the last thirty years is that they have all been too exclusive and so have degenerated too readily into special pleading. They have, separately, asked us to stop exploiting racial minorities or women or nature, and they have been, separately, right to do so. But they have not separately or together, come to the realization that we live in a society that exploits, first, everything that is not ourselves and then, inevitably, ourselves. To ask, within this general onslaught, that we should honor the dignity of this or that group is to ask that we should swim up a waterfall.

~Wendell Berry, 1992

Things I will probably miss when I get back to America: Part II

6. Hainanese Chicken Rice
7. Going swimming at 10 p.m.
8. Fruit stands and my fruit stand guy