for D and S: philemon 7

every place we go to God gives us some people who bear our burdens with us. we have found joy and consolation in your love, and our hearts have been refreshed.

last thanksgiving

in true chinese fashion, our turkey marathon begins the night before. 

HOM makes his farewell bird. we have old friends over. the talk flows easily, in Christ. the year has not been easy but it has been full. there is plenty to be glad for. it is a good night.

the table misses two places. the house misses one dog.

d-day deliberation

i tell myself, only half desperately, this is it. the packers come next week. before i fully recover from jet lag before i truly and adequately de-clutter and right when i still feel thanksgiving-ish. we've been suspended between here and there for so long that this is a final tremendous relief. we've been itching to be doing for so long that i am now frozen in anticipation. aaargh about sums it up.

in case you were wondering

i meet people from home. how have you been? what did you do in the past six years? the subtext says, have you been bored? how did you tolerate it, not doing anything much? i perfect my sweet non-commital smile-cum-murmur and move on.

for the record, the six odd years have been a gift. i have been well. i can't tell you exactly what i have been doing. nothing economically profitable, i'm afraid. some non-economic activity, with some joy and satisfaction and perhaps profit there. i've been writing living epistles, by God's grace. i've been building a home.

modern day samaria

HOM punctures a tire on the highway. as he waits for the auto recovery people, he meets:

• traffic police cars escorting the trucks into the container park, who do not stop for him.
• irate motorists in speeding vehicles narrowly avoiding him, who do not stop for him.
• a policeman who questions his presence at the roadside, and toddles off at punctured tire.
• a driver who stops and asks if he needs help, whose car has a malaysian plate.

the lesson to learn, he says, is:

• japanese cars shudder when trucks rumble past them.

i tell him the lesson is:

• malaysians make better wives.

home, ver 2.0

HOM and i check in to the hotel again. this is our third set of rooms in the same place in a little over a month. our rooms increase in altitude with each incarnation. quite clearly, we are moving up the loyalty ladder. do you feel like this is home? HOM asks me. you bet. 

J1 calls this his third home. there's his home home, there's the army barracks, and there's here, where he bunks with his dad every time business brings HOM here.

modern travel

HOM and i do a count of the electronic devices traveling with us. i have four and he has five. we have ipod ipad iphone and several other alphabets as well, and we do not count the shaver, which technically is electric not electronic. frankly, if the check-in luggage did not turn up we would be fine as long as we could still get connected. 

comfort food

breakfast. panera bread. cinnamon crunch bagel with cream cheese. hot coffee. cold nip of fall, outside. cozy cafe, inside. intimate chatter.

after three weeks of relentlessly crowded public places sweltering heat outdoors freezing indoors and a vastly more complex cuisine, today's outing feels a little like coming home.

jet lag

is napping the entire afternoon away because you are waiting for your husband's telephone call to get you up and he gets holed up in meetings the whole time.

the thing about the empty nest is you are pretty much a free agent and therefore bereft of higher responsibilities that compel other people to stay present and accounted for.

image makeover

HOM tells me that this icon has to go from my email signature setting now that i am going to rejoin the ranks of the economically active. what shall i put in its place? i ask him innocently. anything but lips, he says. FINE. i guess few things say airhead better to a middle aged male executive than fuchsia lipstick on a middle aged woman.

homeless at home

what i like about being back in the states:

• my own set of wheels,
• less traffic,
• a kitchen, and
• a washer and dryer.

all said, this protracted period between knowing we are imminently moving and actually doing so is rather unsettling. much like a painfully drawn out break-up. we used to grumble at being given such short notices about our moves. clearly, knowing for half a year isn't much better.

i have an idea

if they set the a/c thermostat at a number related to the outside temperature, say n - 5, or n - 6 C, then perhaps the malls in singapore would not be the freezing caverns they currently are and the energy bill would be smaller and we would not be contributing so much to the greenhouse gas total and most importantly, the hapless public would not need to be subjected to climate extremes simply because they want to go for a real-time shopping trip as opposed to an online one.

taken 2 (2012)

as one rotten tomato puts it, this movie is exactly what i hoped for in light of taken and i got to watch exactly the show i wished - stress free improbable plot james bond-esque action minimal gore-to-body ratio and an ending that winds your adrenaline and pulse down nicely. not too bad for my movie haul this year. although i have to say that outside of high heroism that Liam Neeson character is an unfortunately overbearing and overreactive father who would get my heckles up in half a second. 

i have HOM  and J1 to thank for dragging me to this show.

house hunters 2

i survive the mass of writhing humanity that seethes in the bowels of the subway at rush hour. it is my reminder that our prime pre-requisite for a home is LOCATION. a body could not do this on a regular sustained basis and not slowly go bonkers. especially if the body had a say in it.

house hunters international

otherwise known as, motivated buyers, inc. what i say is, we're tired, and it's just been one day. what we are looking for, HOM and i realize, in addition to our wish list, is ONE DESPERATE SELLER. 

what we now know we need to avoid, sgp version:

• bay windows, those devious things by which the square footage of the apartment is amplified without giving you actual real estate.
• creative design, otherwise known as mirrors, those devious things by which the square footage of the apartment is amplified without giving you any real estate.
• new developments, those devious things that do not even pretend to amplify your square footage.

aaaaargh.

my new hobby

is looking at what people remove from their cosmetic bags to desperately insert into the little clear baggies before they go through security at the airport. the manner of tubes bottles and pots that emerge from the depths of anonymous bland-looking pouches staggers the mind.

deep end

the house hunt begins in earnest for our next home. all i say is, it isn't fun to be at the exposed end of an over-heated housing market at the advancing edge of the conflagration. and it doesn't help that the first realtor we call sounds like we woke her from sleep. on the other hand it shouldn't be rocket science. all we need really is one desperate seller.

moving, they say, is a major life event. so is the prelude. it keeps us sane to remember that our Father above knows our need.

FAQ 2

how are you doing? do you miss them very much? do you have things to occupy you? 

er, i'm fine, thanks. they are doing quite happily, so i am, as well, to my great relief. ah actually, i am quite occupied sometimes. and we miss Dog too.

the house must be so empty now both of them are gone. it's a good thing i like what they left behind, i suppose. oh what did they leave behind? umm. their dad?

disappointment

HOM and i hustle ourselves bright and early to the annual neighborhood flea market. sixty stalls in a basement car park overflowing with potential treasures, matched by the funds we arm ourselves with.

perhaps it is our recent move. perhaps it is our impending move. perhaps our tastes have improved. there is nothing in the car park that compels. it's not us, HOM says. our standards are still way down there. it's just that there's nothing good here today.

how about it?

HOM calls just as i am about to start dinner. it's friday nite, he says. it's a good time for dinner out. which is rather true, i think to myself as i cling wrap everything up. there is no need to check anyone else's schedule or preference. this empty nest thing has its advantages.