Four Less Teeth For The Perfect Smile

I'm running late today and I don't have a stash of cartoons to dig into like Bilbo does. Or even saved email jokes as Mike seems to have.

So instead, I have this link. Its about a petite politician who had her legs broken so that she could grow an additional 8cm. Obviously, it must have been extremely painful but 8cm sounds incredible. Initially, I thought her actions were drastic but then I remembered the two horrendous years I spent with braces.

What is the difference between having your legs broken and have four perfectly good teeth yanked out for the sake of a perfect smile? I don't know if they still do that but when I was 14 and my brother 12, we both had 4 teeth extracted. That day is forever burned into my mind. Those four teeth were SO HEALTHY that the dentist had to shake them back and forth endlessly. I could hear cracking sounds every so often and catch glimpses of what he was doing from the reflection in the light above.

So after all that, we had our teeth wired up - for more pain. Each month's visit to the orthodontist was excruciating. If anybody is in need of a torture technique, they should just put braces on a person, tighten it, and then force them to eat a big loaf of chewy stale bread. Not that our parents fed that to us but no matter what we ate, it hurt.

On top of that, I had to have the external head gear thing that wrapped around the back of the neck and hooked to the side teeth so that you couldn't close your mouth properly. There was no way I was going to wear that to school. And I mustn't forget to mention the clear plate (saliva collector) that I had to wear for six months after the braces came off.

Oh, I haven't mentioned that I didn't have crooked teeth in the first place. Just a mild (to me) overbite. I don't remember asking for the braces - must have been my parent's idea. Anyway, after all the suffering, I had a perfect smile, that people noticed, for about 5 years. And then two annoying teeth started to move. I believe its because I grind my teeth when I sleep. So now, instead of an overbite, I have almost perfectly straight teeth, except for the two rebels that are becoming more obvious as I age.

Its still good to smile. Lets all practice one now. :)

Threety Three Today

Its here. I'm officially thirty three. Richard gave me a surprise birthday party last Saturday - his first ever! And I was impressed. He arranged for a decoy to get us out and then the remaining friends gathered here in our house. I really enjoyed the afternoon and felt so blessed to finally have some friends here in Palembang.

Today is just like any other day except that I've been told I don't need to cook any of the meals. Great! Thats as good a birthday present as any.

Friends from all over the place have been sending birthday wishes today. One particular one sticks out. Somebody actually wrote "So, what does it feel like growing old?". First of all, I'm thirty three. And secondly, we live in the 21st century. That is NOT old.

But what have I got to show for my thirty three years? Plenty! I'm contented, in good health and have everything I need. I have a fantastic family. And, I don't have a boss (really hated having one!). I like where I'm at now.

I don't have much to show by way of material wealth or rungs climbed on the corporate ladder. However, as I was thinking about that today, one of the measures of what I've achieved is actually the fact that I can honestly say that I don't carry any envy or jealousy towards other people who have "made it". They worked for it, they got it and I am happy for them.

I am sure people sometimes see this as being unambitious but it is really all the comparing and "why-not-me" attitudes that make people lose sight of what they already have. Or even what their potential is. Of course I have ideas and plans for us but its going to be our own motivation that drives us and not a scramble to have what somebody else has.

Anyway, I'm going back to Aaron. The one thing I wanted to do today was have an extra special day with him. Thats my present to me.

Perks Of Being A Mother

All the news on the swine flu is worrying me. Yes, we can do our best to avoid crowded places and keep clean but all that thought about a pandemic has been weighing heavily on me. I feel particularly uneasy being here in Indonesia because if anything breaks out here, I doubt the authorities would be effective in putting any plans into action. As it is, there has been so little awareness or action taken on the dangers of the bird flu here and that virus has already been making its rounds around Indonesia.

Anyway, I don't want to dwell on this. A few days ago, Tanya tagged me for a meme that aims to hear from blogging mothers around the world. Something like "around the world in 80 clicks". I checked back to the blog where this originated and it has surpassed 80 already but is still going on.

The meme is to share the 5 things you love about being a mother. So, here are mine...

1) Getting cuddles, kisses and "I love you's" out of the blue and for no reason.

2) Being able to fix (almost) everything with a smile and a laugh. Life is still so simple for Aaron. Even if I send him for a time-out, he doesn't hold a grudge and all is forgotten once I smile at him.

3) Watching his purity. Aaron is all honesty and sincerity at the moment. He doesn't know anything about wearing masks. When he's happy (which is everyday), he can't contain it. Sometimes, even watching his sadness is amazing because it is so raw.

4) Introducing Aaron to new food. I love eating and am fairly adventurous. Aaron is also turning out to be quite the food lover. He's willing to try anything I'm eating and often ends up liking it too.

5) Watching him imitate us. Almost everyday, we get a funny moment when we see him either repeating something we have said or imitating something that we do. I know there will be the inevitable embarrassing moment but 90% of it is good stuff at the moment.

I usually don't tag anybody when I do memes but I thought I would pass this along to at least one other person to help this move around the world. So, I'm tagging my dear friend, Kelly, in Malaysia. Her blog is actually in Chinese, so it will be interesting to see where the meme goes from here.

MLM-ers scare me!

You all know what MLM is right? Multi Level Marketing? Those pyramid schemes that promise unimaginable wealth without needing to do much work at all?

I acknowledge that there have been many success stories (and I applaud those people). But for each success, there must be hundreds of downline hopefuls that just fizzle out. And while they are fizzling out, they're probably making many of their friends and family avoid them.

Back in Malaysia, there was a period of time where meeting up with friends became a little like navigating through a landmine. You were never sure just which get together was going to blow out into an MLM sales pitch and hold you hostage for the next 2 hours.

These people were often friends. I liked them. I wanted them to like me. So, I used to be polite. Make a lame attempt to buy the product and "think about joining up" later. But of course, these people are motivated, enthusiastic and chased down every lead. I ended up avoiding those people.

Things have been quiet on the MLM front since we moved here. Although, I admit thinking that the market potential must be huge with the large population size here.

Anyway, an MLM-er has emerged here in Palembang. The difference this time is that I am genuinely happy for that person because it looks like one of the success stories. However, I am older and wiser. I have made it clear up front that I don't get into these things and never will. This is just not something for me. I can't sell anything. I couldn't pretend to sell anything. I don't want to convince other people to sell things. And more importantly, I don't want the few friends I have to shun me! I know I won't be avoiding my friend but I'm stronger these days. Not getting into that pyramid.

I do have a gripe about the product here in Palembang though. The sales pitch is definitely misleading potential customers. Its a hobby of mine to try to double check claims that MLM brochures make. But, I'm not in it and its not my place to point anything out.

A Glimpse Of Palembang

Yesterday morning, I asked Iwan to show me how to get around with the public transportation system in Palembang. In a way, it is the easiest system I've come across. Even though the angkots are modified minivans and buses are buses, the fare is the same. Its also the same fare whether you're in them for 1 minute or 15 minutes. There aren't any designated "angkut/bus stops" so you just stand by the road and wave either an angkot or bus down anywhere along their route. To get off, you just call out to the drive. On the bus, you have to knock on the roof. The only problem would be finding out where the routes are but thats easily solved by asking anybody on the streets. Oh, there are also no timetables but it doesn't really matter because there are plenty of angkots on every route.

So, we went from our area to Pasar Perumnas. From there, we took another angkot to a place called Kenten. Then, we took a the bus from Kenten back to Perumnas again so that we could get another angkot home.

I've blogged about angkots before so you can go here for photos.

Today, I have a video instead. We were put in the front of the angkot on the way home. I think it was around 9.30am and we were just leaving the Perumnas market area.

Its Time To Sit Back

These few weeks has seen a surge in Aaron's independence. Little by little each day, he has started to make up his own games. All these photos were taken today. After waiting over two and a half years for a day like this, I didn't know what to do with myself so I just watched at first then thought I should capture the moments.







Not only does he play by himself, he's able to get himself a drink and later on, go pee as well. I know I won't be out of a job anytime soon but it looks like I might be able to take on some other jobs soon. Or maybe, I can start delegating things like folding the laundry. He seems interested in that!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

If Only 13 was Onety Three

Aaron is getting to like numbers. He likes counting things and he enjoys writing numbers. One to ten was easy to teach him. I think he's known them for close to a year now from the count down to end a nursing session.

Once he could write and recognize the numbers one to ten, we went further. Eleven and Twelve were ok. Thirteen to twenty were manageable.

It wasn't until I started introducing all the numbers above twenty that he started to get confused with all the teens.

After learning about double digit numbers like forty five or sixty seven, he started to draw a blank whenever I wrote a number beginning with '1'. I also need to lead him a little for the twenties and thirties.

I've been telling him to look at the first digit, for example in 53, say whatever that number is, "five", and add a "ty" on the end. After that, just read the second digit normally. If that number is a '0', you don't need to say anything.

Of course, this only works for numbers 40 to 99.

There is some sort of explanation for all the confusion here. Unfortunately, the link to further information seems dead.

But wouldn't it have been easier if they just did this:

10 - Onety
11 - Onety One
12 - Onety Two
13 - Onety Three
etc

20 and 30 can be twoty and threety. That sounds pretty cute. Doesn't it?

Cute doesn't cut it though. Tomorrow we'll have to persevere with reality.

On a separate note, I wanted to show off the new award that Bilbo passed on yesterday.

I think I started reading Bilbo's blog around August 2007 and have done so almost every day since. He's full of funny stories and colorful rants. I never thought we would end up pen pals as well. Thank you very much Bilbo!