3 things to balance me out

When I stopped working (in an office) in 2004, I found that after the initial novelty of lazing around wore off, I didn't feel so happy about being a bum anymore. This must be how some retirees feel. Anyway, I eventually worked out that I should always strive to have these 3 aspects in my life:

1) Income Generation. I do this with my amateur online trading. This is more for my ego rather than my tummy. Plus its interesting and is linked to aspect #2.

2) Developing Skills. So, the trading skills are a given. I have to develop them in order to generate that income. However, there needs to be more and they don't necessarilly have to be serious skills either. Cello and Tap Dancing are out of the question here in Palembang so I'll need to find something new. I have been comtemplating my Pool skills.

3) Giving Back. Charity work? Yes, I'll get into that when I find some organisation I can get involved in. Giving back also includes teaching. Like teaching all my neighbors the piano back in Klang. Although, I'm not sure I want to get into that now with Aaron around. Will need to figure this one out.

Anyway, people balance their lives in different ways. This is just how I compartmentalise mine.

Too poor for fillings

I offered our driver some bread sticks today but he declined. I thought he was just lazy to eat (thats his usual response) but this time he said "No thanks, I have too many holes in my teeth and that will just all get stuck in them"

Just like many other things that he does without, the lack of fillings is probably due to his lack of funds.

Just 1 month ago, he had one of his molars literally FALL OUT of his mouth and he didn't seem to mind one bit.

He didn't seem worried that he might lose more teeth at all. He just said that he'd get dentures. I guess he'll go somewhere like this place.



Bikin Gigi means to Make Teeth.

How do you date???

I don't know whether to feel happy or old school about this statement:
"I met my husband 9 years ago and we'll be married 7 years this coming July. We met at work."

Well, I guess I'm happy because....we're happy.

Its the old school side to it that has me thinking today. I've been out of the dating scene for ages now and most of my friends are already married so obviously, I'm quite out of touch with how things work.

I do have a couple of single friends and from what they say, it doesn't sound like as much fun as it used to be. Its all online, just like most things in life. You can even Find Romance with Yahoo Personals No more asking your best friend to check if he's looking. Or, 'accidentally' meeting in a corridor for some boring conversation. I know, I know, people are all too busy with work and need to make dating more efficient.

They get straight to the point nowadays. Go online, read the profile, start the communication, if things seem promising, go meet up in person with a whole heap of expectations. Yes, I'm generalising things but....this is a lite 'n' easy blog...no heavy stuff.

Anyway, with so much expectations on both sides, I imagine that it must be hard to know when somebody is the right one. There is no time to build up the rapport and everything is based on instant chemistry and so called 'sparks'. You might get rid of the perfect person without really getting to know them. OR you might not even meet them because they couldn't write a winning profile.

PLUS, what about all those jerks out there who aren't really looking for a relationship and aren't honest about it? At least when its face to face, you can sense these things.

Anyways, all this is just speculation on my part. I've never tried online dating (and hope I won't have to) but I really feel for the people who are out there and online.

BUGS - Update

These little buggers get everywhere. Sweep them up here and they're popping up there.
Here, there and everywhere....including Aaron's mouth. In the time I spent changing a battery in one of his toys, he had found one of them and popped them in his mouth. He was already crunching on it by the time I stuck my finger in to hook it out!

So far, I've found ants, tissues and now this little bug in his mouth. And I have my eyes on him 95% of the time. Guess I'll have to give up that remaining 5% too.

BUGS

I don't know what time in the night they make their move but when they decide to visit, they're always here by the morning. This is considered a small contingent. There have been other occasions where the entire floor is littered with them.

Initially, I was told that they come when it has been raining a few days. BUT its been dry. So now the Indonesians are saying that they come when there is a change of season approaching. Either from wet to dry or the other way around. So...perhaps it makes sense because we've been having very hot dry days this week.

Here is a close up of one of those stinky bugs being carried away by ants. Don't know why but a lot of them die before the morning.

Kueh Putu

Aaron and I go for our evening walk at around 5pm everyday. I don't usually carry my camera or any money with me. Today however, I had some change left over in my pocket and I had taken my camera along on a whim.

I've heard the continuous whistling sound in the evenings since the first few days we arrived here. I never knew that it came from this man's Kueh Putu cart until today. I'm usually wary of eating food off these carts (there are plenty around in the evenings) but the Kueh Putu seemed ok because it is made of all dried ingredients ...nothing that could go bad.

Anyway, its made of rice flour, coconut and brown sugar. He stuffs that brown napkin ring looking thing then places it over a tiny hole on top of that big tin can he has on the left. Hot water is boiling underneath, giving off steam to cook the putu. When its done, he just pushes the putu out of the napkin ring.

Unfortunately, I didn't remember to take a photo of the finished putu until after I had gobbled it down. It was pretty good. Too sweet for my taste but I can always ask him to hold the sugar next time.

Another 6 hours - I think

Looks like it was another successful night. Although Aaron took over an hour to fall asleep, he stayed sleeping from 7.15-10.40pm. I think he would have tried to stay asleep longer if it hadn't been for a poo. So OK, we took him to the bathroom and afterwards, he fell asleep quite easily.

The next thing I knew, it was about 4.30am and he was climbing back and forth over my body. That seems to be his sign for "Take me to the bathroom NOW". So we went...and he went AGAIN. Two long sleeps, punctuated by two big poos....I really can't remember waking up in between.

OK. So it wasn't 6 hours exactly. 5.5 hours is close enough.