so they want us to multiply eh?

I’ve been following the Singapore Still Needs More Babies issue with much interest (cos yeah, I do want more babies :) ), hope (usually what The Old Man says goes) and cynicism (cosmetic and monetary incentives won’t really work unless structural changes are effected). I really miss the family-friendly and pro-family lifestyle and culture in Australia, where working part-time or freelance is  always possible and  where family support is lacking, community-based support is always available.

Apparently the gahmen had recently sent a delegation to Sweden to follow the day-to-day activities of a typical family at home and at the kindergarten. Let's hope  some sense is driven into their policy-making brains.

Check out France’s and Norway’s parental benefits. Lovely.

Anyone read Saturday’s ST forum pages? This guy wrote in and boldly suggested that child-rearing and parenting should be recognized as a valued sacrifice/career in itself, and that if working mothers choose to stop working after having their second child, and choose to have more children, then the gahmen should pay them their last-drawn salary for the next 10 years. !!!

Oh alangkah indahnya! Please please please make that happen!

On a separate note, I was talking to Ilhan about not wasting water.

Ibu: Ilhan tak boleh bazir air ok? Planet Earth is sick and it does not have enough water anymore. Without water we’ll die.

Ilhan: Kita doa untuk Planet Earth ok? (with raised palms) O Allah, tolong jaga Planet Earth, jangan kasi Planet Earth sakit. Jangan kasi air habis. Amin.

A simple reminder and innocent manifestation of iman -  turn to Him.  it's the simple answer to everything.

On another separate note, anyone watched the debut episode of 1988...Segaris Sinar? Brilliant show with a brilliant cast. i think it herald a new standard in local malay drama. And of course, the eye for detail in portraying life circa 1988 with the coin-phone and old bus-stop and kedai bawah blok. the emotions and pain are all emoted so well, even by the kids. don't miss it.

on the opposite side of the desk

I can’t quite pinpoint when it happened, but suddenly it had.

My (first) baby is not a baby anymore.

It seems just yesterday that he was as small and cute as  he was in this picture which the Hasbern says is one of his favourite.

I’ve always enjoyed Parents-Teachers Meet as a teacher – seeing the clowns suddenly turning all meek and pijak semut tak mati in front of their parents. And then now I was on the opposite end of the table. We attended the Iyad Parents-Teachers Meet recently where we got updates on his progress. We’re generally happy with how he’s bloomed these past 6 months.

His teacher, however, did mention some behavioral changes after he got his baby brother. My sweet baby needs a little help with anger and conflict management. A phase that he’s going through I guess, and something we think will pass.

I must admit I was squirming at my seat. And this is the very first of many many more Parents-Teachers Meet to come in the next errr…..12 years or so….

Anyway, here’s cik abang posing beside (the picture of) his ‘girlfriend’ Qistina.

ambil gambar dengan gambar pun jadilah...

Ayat-Ayat Cinta -- Why Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Romance

I must be the last person around to watch Ayat-Ayat Cinta. I had originally wanted to drag The Hasbern to catch it in a theatre for the full cinematic experience, but plan tak jadi-jadi. In the end had to settle for a ciplak dvd. [Disclaimer: I hate watching pirated movies but curiosity got the better of me this time]

Our take on it?

To The Hasbern, Fahri’s predicament is such a oh-so-wonderful problem to have – having 4 admirers and oh…getting to marry The One With The Eyes – Aisha, the rich, intriguingly niqab-clad one - only to have her forcing you to marry the equally gorgeous lovable one – Coptic-Christian Maria. Who, by the way, are both luuk kreung (Thai for ‘anak separuh’ or half-caste), with Aisha being of Turkish-German descent no less. Oh..what a wonderful headache to suffer from.

Men.

Why must the 2 girls who win be the gorgeous half-caste ones eh? Apa…kalau good old indo girls tak layak ke? Menyampah. Turkish-German lagi. Hrrrmmpphh.

But that aside, I think Fedy Nuril played Fahri very well. He’s not devastatingly handsome in the usual Indo sinetron sort of way. He’s just right for the role with that lost hapless look. Dan dari dulu nenek cakap cari lelaki yang beriman kan. Ha…the scene when he looked down and gulped seconds after seeing Aisha’s face was so cute and awwww. And while slowly he revel in the fact that he’s got both chicks, he did act all awkward in the beginning.

On a more serious note, watching this movie as a married woman, the main p.o.l.y.g.a.m.y issue hits closer to home than say if I’d watched it as a dizzy dreamy-eyed anak dara. The emotions that Aisha went through upon discovering Maria’s diary and realizing that her husband shares a longer history and probably more in common with this woman is quite a lot to bear, what more realizing that this woman really loves your husband. And when discovering that she is pregnant, you can understand the reason behind her altruism and magnanimity when she told Fahri to “Bilang dia kamu akan nikahi dia.”

And the subsequent nikah at the hospital bed when it was then halal for him to hold Maria’s hand and wake her up from that coma, and the parts when she bumps into their intimate moments (same house lagi!)…sakit, beb!

Which is why on her deathbed Maria thanked Aisha for making her see “beda antara mencintai dan keinginan untuk memiliki.”

That scene when Fahri was acquitted and he sujud shukur while Aisha fell to her knees and held his face in her hands between the bars is kinda touching too.

There’s the usual sinetron-style melodrama, but overall the cinematography is beautiful and with such eye-candy and the overall Islamic feel/theme, I like it. Oh, and the haunting song by Rossa too.

Now I think I’ll go get the book.

morning rush

Main Entry: rush

Pronunciation: \ˈrəsh\

 intransitive verb

1: to move forward, progress, or act with haste or eagerness or without preparation

transitive verb

1: to push or impel on or forward with speed, impetuosity, or violence

2: to perform in a short time or at high speed

3: to urge to an unnatural or extreme speed <don't rush me>

4: to run toward or against in attack : charge

saya setuju dengan semua takrifan di atas! may I add another definition, Merriam-Webster?

morning rush

Pronunciation: \ˈmȯr-niŋ\ ˈrəsh\

 : the act of dragging oneself out of bed, expressing one’s baby’s feed for the day, getting oneself and one’s very grumpy 3.5-year-old kid ready for school, dragging a grumpy 3.5-year-old while balancing a sleeping baby and bags to the car and transporting all to the babysitter and schools by 0730 hrs.

That about sums up the past week. Ilyas has started going to Cik Ani, Ilhan’s former fantastic babysitter and he’s settling in well. He’s such a darling for sleeping through the night now, waking up only once at night only occasionally.  So beauty sleep masih maintain.

I’ve started doing flexi-adjunct teaching again at my alma mater/former workplace. I sense a different climate here now under new leadership – if I had still been in service I probably would not have left. But well, cest la vie. I’d be lying if I say I’m not tempted to re-join the service for the money – just take a walk round the school carpark and you’ll see all the gleaming cars with SJ_ license plates – but..nahh…

Which reminds me…the 11 July deadline is looming near, and I’ve finally decided that I’m not going ahead with the speech therapy MSc at NUS. With our whereabouts for the next 5 years still undecided, a course costing $50,000 and a bond worth 4 years and well over $50K is not something I think I should commit to. Plus, after doing the sums again, it’ll be hard to get by on the allowance they give. And all these IF I get the sponsorship in the first place.

Anyhow, the same course at La Trobe or Macquarie will cost a third of that for permanent residents, which makes more sense. That is again, IF we decide to go back.

*sigh*. So hard to plan amidst all IFs.

So I’ve decided to prioritise and be practical; now is neither the best time to be having a quarter/mid-life crisis calling for a career switch, nor is it the time to be a pseudo tai-tai/SAHM. For now I’ll just stick to what I’ve been doing while crafting a gameplan for the The Hasbern to try usurp his boss John Thain’s cushy job.

In the mean time, I’ll savour watching the antics of these two :)