31.1.03
gong shi fa chai
Another first day of the year - it's nice to know that we have two chances to start the year. We just received our
hong-bao and it came along with a story from our boss about the origin of the red envelope. Supposedly, red envelopes were floating around before it was associated with the New Year. Because of the monster, Nien, the people had to put into play numerous actions to defend themselves from the beast who would eat people at the beginning of the year. First, the color red must be displayed at the home to scare away the monster. Second, fireworks must be set off to again scare the monster. Then, the tradition of placing money in the red envelope came about. This was brought on because it seemed wise to put away money in hopes of being able to make a new start in case the monster should destroy your home and belongings. But of course, the younger ones would squander away this money drinking, gambling and feasting because tomorrow looked bleak as the chances of escaping the monster was close to nil. Thus the tradition of giving the red envelopes to children who do not really think of tomorrow and rather live in the moment of it all. It is the year of the Goat (sheep, ram - all are encompased by a single word).
the end
It has been a very long month - the longest one I've felt in a long time. Usually months just whiz by, and before we know it, it's Christmas again and New Year; and you're looking back on what you've accomplished that year. Well, this January seemed unending possibly because Dylan was sick for almost the whole month and when you're waiting for something to go away, or for something that's akin to torture to stop, the days just go by so slowly that you can count the seconds ticking away in a quiet room. Our days are usually divided into 4-6 hour patterns, or by the three meals of the day because at the end of each always comes a dose of medication. Dylan is well now, alive and kicking again and glad to jump off chairs and sofas and climb into and out of anything and everything. I do not want to repeat the experience of pneumonia again, thank you very much.
So at the end of a long month, we are just happy to be at an end of an evil, phlegmatic bronchial invasion which we have battled alongside with Rocephin, Augmentin (who had to be disposed of later on and replaced because she appeared to deceive), Ceftin and Nystatin. It was a long, hard fight, involving a lot medieval torture devices, sharp needles, tongue depressors and stethoscopes. But finally the enemy was driven out and rest can be had - a story brews in the background...
27.1.03
about a boy
Certainly not one of 2002's best, but among the better ones (yes, I can't really decide which is better -
XXX or
Mr. Deeds...) for a year that was sorely lacking anything good in the filmscape. I have to admit
The Two Towers would have to be my best of the year, mainly because of Gollum/Smeagol.
I've had it with acrid action-packed, shoot 'em up, mindless violence and gratuitous sex movies with shapely "hot" girls and older, super macho men. I've also had it with in-the-not-so-distant future types as well. Perhaps it's just because I don't get to go out and watch too many movies anymore - but that's just as well as there isn't anything worth watching most of the time.
So...
About a Boy was not too bad. Here, we have Hugh Grant walking around doing "nothing" AND trying to get the girl through the movie. The whole thing does tend to sound rather hackneyed but read on. It's about people, and people who are alone in the world, and how they really shouldn't be or aren't because "no man is an island" - despite modern day's conveniences - online shopping, banking, and every form of communication you would ever need to do with a human being now no longer needs to be done in the face of a human being when we have the internet.
Really, we all are "a piece of the continent, a part of the main; and "if a clod" such as Will be washed away, then we are less for it. It's a positive take on life and how something like an adolescent boy (played illuminatingly by Nicholas Hoult) can change the passing of time, and can ultimately change the course of many people's lives for the better. Uplifting and funny.
26.1.03
spriggan and other anime
Finally watched
Spriggan. Superior animation which is probably what I like most about this anime, and then it's your usual action-packed, violent, super-human powered characters again. The storyline was interesting enough, although I felt it lacked a lot of character development. Sure we know enough about Ominae Yu, towards the end, but what about his so-called mentor, Jean-Jacques Mondo, or the origins of Clonel McDougal - what, exactly, about that kid? I always like character development, some background - it always makes for an interesting sub-story or canvas upon which the story unravels. This is more evident in something like
Beserk, which like most anime, I had a hard time pulling together in the beginning, but eventually makes sense in the third or fourth episode, or three quarters into the film. There's a lot of everything in Beserk - magic, action, adventure; violence, refrences to homosexuality, the love triangle, and pretty decent dailogue. I'm eagerly awaiting the next DVD release set for March.
Princess Mononoke was beautifully animated, with rich, lush colors, landscapes and mythical creatures, but the story made me feel that it fell quite flat. I hoped for it to soar and just float above the forest, sweeping across the sky with the mythical creatures but somehow it all got lost in the stellar cast of voices; among them Gillian Anderson and Billy Bob Thornton. I don't see the point in employing celebrity voices (does this REALLY help to sell the thing itself? I can see that it just might do that in America for such American audiences...) as I don't believe in selling a story through the likes of, ESPECIALLY through the likes of someone, like say, Claire Danes. She was great in
My So Called Life, but she ruined it all for me when she did that stupid film, filmed in Manila and let loose some innane comments that did a diservice to her intelligence and forever changed how I feel about her as a human being. But I digress - Mononoke is, I suppose, a sound story. But I really feel that so much has fallen away in the translation and Miramax's desire to "Americanize" the script for the benefit of us non-Japanese speaking peoples. Why couldn't they retain
Gaiman's original work (although I'm not completely convinced that that would have been 100% better, but I'm sure much better nonetheless), in trying to retain the more cultural, even mythological aspects of the script. I'm sure Americans or non-Japanese speaking people are intelligent enough to understand what might be taken for Japanese culture and history and just simply leave it as that. No need to simplify it. We are not idiots. I'm sure we would take it upon ourselves to do the research if need be. I seriously think that bringing in such a "stellar" celebrity cast detracted from the feature and the final translation script was somewhat hollow and did not really make me love the film in the way that I might have, had it not been shot with the Western film distributor's iron balls...
urban legends
I happened upon an entertaining show last week, and if you get Discovery Channel, don't miss
Myth Busters. From exploding stomachs to fat women's butts stuck on airplane toilet bowls, urban legends are put to the test. The great thing is, most of them proved to be highly possible!
Jamie Hyneman, founder of M5 and creator of all things realistically fantastic hosts the show along with
Adam Savage, builder and sculptor of interesting things. There's a lot of PSI talk along with general physics that would otherwise reduce me to a blithering idiot were I to repeat any of the formulas, thus, I am always intrigued by people who can build a replica of a 300 pound woman's butt cheeks out of materials that usually make up a jelly dildo, hoist it over an original airline toilet bowl, and create a vacuum that would suction the fat ass to the lip of the bowl and (as the legend goes) leave her stuck to the seat until the plane landed. All in a day's work - if I could, I would, in another life, have a much more interesting job not unlike these two guys.
22.1.03
the papoose board
The Immobilizing board I was writing about yesterday. Dylan went through his VCUG yesterday, and our memories were refreshed as to how he was strapped into this Papoose board, then flipped from side to side as x-rays were taken of his kidneys (left and right) and bladder. All throughout, he had a catheter inserted into him, then filled with riduculous amounts of fluid so they could "void" it and see whether he continues to have reflux. Good news: the reflux is minor - a grade 1 compared to the former grade 3 a year ago. The liquid only refluxes back into the right ureter and not into the kidneys. The verdict: he should soon be outgrowing his condition and will likely not have to take his daily dose of
Primsol...the wonders of medicine.
21.1.03
medieval torture devices
After a change of pediatrician, we have the factual result that Dylan has contracted pneumonia - of the bacterial and bronchial type; in both lungs no less. This was only after running down a list of pediatricians in the area and finally choosing one and making an appointment and having the doctor order a battery of tests: blood CBC, urine (for UTI), throat swab (for strep), nose swab (for influenza) and finally a chest x-ray for pneumonia. The poor boy had to endure it all in a single day and he really must have felt tortured. Some of these medical devices for children truly look medieval in origin - especially if it involves strapping and locking infants into place.
We first came across one such device for Dylan's circumcision. He was only 9 days old and while we waited in the examining room, the nurse brought in a contraption molded of clear and opaque white plastic. You could immediately see that it was meant for a child to lie down in it - the mold showed a body - parts of the shoulder and arms whithout the hands, then parts of the pelvis and the thigh. Then there were the straps for the arms and legs to hold the tiny child down as he lay in the mold while the doctor took about 6 pairs of surgical scissors which all seemed to be hooked up to the object of surgery! It was over in a matter of minutes but the look of it all! Then Dylan had to undergo a
VCUG in his 3rd month, where he was tied down to a flat plank to keep his arms, legs and body straight as they x-rayed his bladder. Last Friday, the chest x-ray contraption was of the same type of medieval style - it is a table (rolling wheels on the bottom of it) with a cut out in the center. The hole is where you place the child's lower body as his crotch rests on something that looks similar to a bicycle seat and his legs dangle down under the table. Then the parent is asked to hold the child upright, with the child's arms up in the air, as the radiologist swings around two parts of a clear plastic molding that goes around the child's body that holds him and his arms upright (with a cut-out of where his face should be), and locks it with a leather strap in the back. Of course, please add the sound of a screaming child in the background while all this is happening, and you might as well add darkness and a dungeon mustiness to the whole picture. But of course, there really isn't much pain involved and the results are for the betterment of the child. It is quite a thing though when these technicians give you the "warning explanatory talk" before the actual proceedure. I suppose some parents may be shocked beyond belief when they see these contraptions. So, to ease the initial shock, the technician proceeds to explain and point out what the parts are, how the child will be placed in it, and what it does to the child. And, oh, by the way, we're off to another
VCUG today...
16.1.03
still ill
Ughhhh...what a long week it's been. We've been struggling with Dylan's fever and cough and cold for two weeks now. Stayed home yesterday and what a long day - I felt I'd been off work for three days rather than one. It's a terrible situation when you have poor little 14 month old who simply can't tell you what he feels except that it is definitely NOT GOOD. Dylan has been incredibly needy only because he must feel like the world is against him. He has had fever for the last six days (!) and the damn doctor's advice line simply doesn't return our calls so we're off on a new pediatric search. I'm just glad I have an Uncle who is an internist and very well read and researched on the latest medical findings and studies; both in drugs and disease, and has a regular stash of drug samples, specifically infant/children's antibiotics which we started Dylan on yesterday. Whew! We have pumped Dylan full of acetaminophens, antihistamines, ibuprofen, and now Zithromax which has worked like a charm on Dino and myself, so we hope this will end the buggered bacterial infection poor Dylan is suffering. It's just so sad to see a child unable to play and be himself, and is instead driven to clutch at your body and simply lay in your arms staring and waiting until the fever passes. He won't eat, will drink only a little and simply cannot interact with the people around him as he hasn't the energy nor the stomach for it. I hope the poor dear will be well and zooming around soon!
10.1.03
book club
Since Dylan's birth, I've started to look at children's books a bit more, and with more scrutiny. I remember books from my own youth, and feel like perhaps he should fall into the same path with the books I've read and as well as onto an alternate path of books that I look at with great joy and sadness - joy that I can read them now, and sadness that I hadn't the chance to read them because they were yet to be written when I was younger. I hope
Strange Stories will be entertaining enough for Dylan and we won't have to wait for three years which is the recommended reading level for this book. Apparently, it's for all ages, although I am not completely sure Dylan is really read-ready. He used to like chewing on his board books. Now he laughs at his books as he flips the pages over, and hardly listens to what I'm reading. He appears bored, but I continue anyway, hoping for some osmosis miracle - surely the words will sink into his brain and he'll somehow retain it for later use.
I think I was rather bookish. I used to go for new books every weekend at the bookstore. At least, that's what it felt like, as I used to finish reading up my books so fast (I wonder why I can't seem to do that anymore...). I was a big Enid Blyton fan - not the
Famous Fives or
Secret Sevens or even
Malory Towers type, but more of the
Amelia Jane and
Folk of the Faraway Tree type, although I do admit to owning at least one Famous Five (who could resist Timmy the dog, and the whole "George" thing) and a single silly Noddy book from a thrift store. I begged my mother for that book and she was hard pressed to buy it because she thought Noddy was absolutely useless (and probably absolute crap) and when I saw the claymation version of it some years ago, I concurred. The first paper back "real" book I ever read - one that didn't have colored pictures but instead had black and white "illustrations" and was over 100 pages long was Enid Blyton's
The Green Storybook. I was six in the first grade, and I borrowed this book from The Victoria School library in
Kisumu, and I devoured the book from cover to cover in a matter of 2 or 3 days. It was my first encounter with pixies, brownies, and fairy and elvish folk. The imagery was so vivid and otherworldly in my mind and I can't seem to forget the eery green cover of a foggy smokey creature. I have looked for this book, but it appears to be out of print. I even sought out an Enid Blyton group and found out that it is indeed out of print and must try to find it at the UK amazon.com version for sale as a used book. Disappointingly, haven't found it since. So, I had to ask my sister when she was in England to resort to buying the good old
Folk of the Faraway Tree series instead. I did have a box full of Enid Blytons (
Amelia Jane, Mr. Twiddle, Binkle and Flip, Red Story Book, Blue Story Book, etc.), but of course, they were lost in a move from San Diego to Las Vegas. Probably were sitting in our old garage only to be thrown out by the new owners - heart wrenching! T'is terrible to pick up the pieces of memories of lost books that you once owned and loved.
daycare day four
Well, it had to happen some time, only it happened today. Dylan's not been feeling too well; all phlegmy and coldy and all that, so he wasn't too keen on being at daycare today. He waved hello to everybody at first and ran off to sit at the table with the big boys, but then decided he wanted mother best. He was a bit fussy, wanting to be in
my arms, but the teacher (with my coaxing) was able to distract him momentarily with a pink piano/keyboard thingie, so we had to sneak out like horrible parents. Hope he didn't turn around and find himself abandoned, left behind, forgotten, unloved...argh! I wish I could go pick him up now.
7.1.03
daycare jitters
Well, we gone and done it. Today, not only marks a birthday, but the first day our son is in
DAYCARE. Cringe. Shudder. Worry. Worry. Worry.
Daycare, a dreaded word in my mind not too long ago. If only we had the option of someone that could come over to the house and do the job one-on-one, we would rejoice, but that is a luxury, and just plain impossible to find and hard to come by. So, we must do what we must. But I must say, I think Dylan has forgotten that he
has parents! Can we say "feel right at home"?! We checked the place out yesterday and it was satisfactory to our needs and requirements, besides they seem to be one of the only places to have an opening. Also, conveniently located down the street from the house.
Dylan seems to love the company of all manner of living things, so daycare to him is an environment that he seems to enjoy. He finds joy being in the midst of a babble of people (he proved that on Christmas day when we had visitors in and out of the house throughout the day - he was extremely exhuberant and all smiles and showing off as best he could) so, we hope that this IS a good thing for him. It is extremely hard for the parents though, to ward off evil thoughts such as will they give enough attention to my child, will he be healthy enough to ward off other children's germs, will they ever hit my child, is the area secure enough, will a psychologically deranged nut suddenly start a shoot-out rampage or create a hostage situation; etc., ad infinitum. Sometimes, you just have to stop thinking for a while and instead call the daycare center at least once every 2 or 3 hours...ah, the angst!
first day, year thirty-two
I sometimes like that I begin the first end of the week of the year with a birthday which means a clean slate on all sides. The year begins with a new number stamped to your aging soul; makes one take things into greater perspective - a chance to take a long look at the year ahead and all the things that you must do and all the things that yet seem possible to achieve.
