Having a chat with a friend on how things are going in our sides of the world, suddenly came to an interesting revelation:

- There you are: we have a Demo-version of our world without vaccinations!

- And mind you, this is a Demo-version of the world without one single vaccination.

An elementary Math problem: The mail with my 1st Bachelor's diploma shows its status as "delivered" as of October 5th.  Today's date is October 26th. The International Evaluation department of the Licensing Association I'm working with are claiming they are still processing mail delivered on October 1st. As of Friday last week - they were processing mail delivered on September 28th. I started evaluation application process in July.
Question: will I get my license in hand before I retire?




In good news: Taekwondo lessons are great. That exact feeling that you're at your place despite not knowing what you're doing and even doing... n'importe quoi. A little crazy to follow the instruction in 2 languages: given I've already picked up - purely by listening - some Slovenian and Latin, trying to repeat Korean makes me forget what planet I am on. But hey - as soon as I realized I will be training in a studio that's part of World Taekwondo Federation - or WTF, which is a very precise summary of my life - I knew I was at the right place.


Looks like the vein treatment went well, and if it did indeed - I may have to put off another surgery for now.


Another dozen of Shakespeare works left. I'm of course, a lucky witch, whose Bookworm-ing goal fell for exactly the time when my commute to and from work takes about 2 hours every day. A once-in a lifetime opportunity, if you're a looking at going through dozens of serious and sophisticated works that require you to understand the subjects and conflicts raised, appreciate the language and to get fully submerged into the literature style.

Someone - I think it was Brian Tracy - once said that the number of potential errors in a process is the square of the number of people that are involved in it, moving from one step to another.


If that's just me - I can make 1 error. If I involve 2 more people - I create room for 4 more potential errors. That's true and proven on a daily basis :)


Right now though I feel like apart from creating an exponential growth of errors, every party I deal with is rolling time backwards so I'm held back on the same point for days: from figuring out a process by trial and error on my own to escalating a month (!) delay in evaluation.
Does it really take half-a dozen calls to coordinate something as simple as a ceiling light installation of window replacement?
How can you possibly spend a month searching for 1 envelope, when it only takes 36 hours to locate it AND go through the contents - but after an escalation?
How can you find 1 document out of 3 in an envelope - and keep saying the other 2 pages were not there?
Wouldn't it be quicker and easier - on everyone - to include some instructions and hints for a new task? No, personal remarks and conflicting messages are not professional instructions.
Do I absolutely have to follow up on every thing I request?
I'm already doing plenty of volunteer work of my own choice. Where did you get my phone number?


So, every time I start thinking about MBA or PhD studies, and international work, a house remodeling project, a surgical procedure  - I can't help thinking what mayhem it will create tying to get though bureaucracy of registrars', collecting all necessary documents, organizing and coordinating people in different time zones and of different cultures, following up on every step of a project every day and running around trying to fit in calls and meeting people live into my already insane schedule, wasting hours bein on hold with hospitals and insurance companies and then trying to understand the bullshit basis of accounting they use on the bills and claims.
No thanks - not until I work close to home, and have a second independent and reliable source of income.


Arthur just said the other day he needs one Mom for himself, one for Adrian and one - to do the cooking. I'm already embodying all these 3 "selves" (and many more), but the idea or a virtual PA sounds more and more appealing now.

Every time I finish mopping the floor, take the posture of homo erectus again and wait until my face gains my normal colour back and my hands stop burning (oh, who am I kidding?! I never just "wait" for anything, I go on with the next thing to do on my list) - I tell myself enough is enough and I need to arrange for cleaning services to help if not every other week, then at least once a month.


But then I go and shoot an email to a handgun training facility to see their classes availability, and check updated schedule for Arthur's swimming and MMA classes he will start this fall, and well - since I'm on it anyway, check for Taekwondo adult classes for myself, and jot down a memo to buy a couple of presents and a gift card for the upcoming parties.
And finally, I circle back to the reflection that while eventful life happens in my house at an intense speed - housekeeping needs to be pushed back. Just for a little longer.

Thinking outloud



When proponents of "family" as a necessary institution and a mandatory integral part of a life of any "socially-healthy and normal" individual explain the advantages of maintaining good relationships with close and remote family members - the arguments used revolve around the idea that family gives you strength, that the best moments in life are shared with your family, that the family shapes you into your best self, that your parents have made an investment - that no one ever will be able to match! - into you, in money, time, energy. That the seniors in your family will shower you with words of wisdom, care and support in difficult times, and the ones closest to you will always share the burden, and the ones you've helped - will return the favour. And if this is not how things have worked out for you - than there's definitely something wrong with you, ungrateful looser.

All in all - the family is viewed as the best thing that can happen to you, the best thing you will ever have and the main reason you work, stay healthy, educate yourself, have a social life, have a romantic relationship. And of course, we know that the biggest advocates of rules (let alone the creators) - are those who benefit from them the most - but this is a point I will come back to some day later.

The 2 questions I have following the imposed statement though are:

Should blood ties ( or any blood ties of blood ties ) that create a feeling of misery and anger ; that suck out energy and feed on somebody else's hardship and problems; that tell lies and gossip behind the back; that demand commitment to living a life based on their needs and expectations; that use manipulations (especially sudden problems with health), psychological pressure; that are rude, insincere, immature and absolutely do not care about the consequences of their actions and behavior on other people's lives - be considered a family?

Can family - by the definition of people who make you feel stronger, better, more secure, happier - consist of friends and life mentors?





Did some preliminary planning for 2018 UNICEF Marathon.

- the ne registration is open now.

Given that the hotel availability might change, that most of the trip search and booking platforms do not show airfare for later than mid-April 2018, that I only counted 2 full days in Geneva (3 nights total, that is), that we might be looking at 2 registration fees if Belkin decides to run - I'm looking at $1,500 for just this item on my bucket list. Pretty realistic and could be worse :)

On a side note - the Universe just bumped my head into the idea of increasing my monthly earning capacity to what I was planning to be my next quarterly earning capacity. Perfect timing as always - just as I start to relax and have doubts about the reason of all the wishes, goals and master life projects I have and why the hell should I .... - here comes a gentle reminder: pull yourself together, do what needs to be done and live the life you want.

In some thin time slot,

while walking from a kids birthday party to Home Depot, with Chill Jr sitting comfortably on my left arm and Chill Sr holding my hand (walking through the entire plaza and parking on both ends), I stopped by World Market store and got myself a tiny jar of joy.


I don't know why it's not on sale anywhere else, and I can't tell from what dark depth of my gut feeling an impulse to check this store came from - but the fact is: I'll have a rye bread - Marmite - avocado toast for breakfast tomorrow!!

Ok, I got it. It's a conspiracy.

The washer never really washes our dirty clothes, and they just appear to look spotless and smell fresh for a couple of days (1/2 day if they are chinchillas' pants or couple of hours if they are my gym tank tops and shorts) but soon expose their true soiled nature soon and end up in the dirty laundry pile. This is why our laundry basket is always full even a day after a full load washing. It's a conspiracy.

Same with dirty dishes, cups and cutlery - it's a conspiracy, or a pandemic - as soon as you start running a fully loaded dishwasher - more glasses and plates will be discovered. As soon as you hand-wash toddler sippy cups or bottles - they will appear in every corner of the house, with milk, compot or water in them.

If you've picked all leaves from the ground in your backyard - the moment you tie the 7th trash bag and walk inside the house - more leaves will crawl over the fence over your neighbors' backyards straight into yours. Or maybe as the darkness falls - they go through the entire growth cycle over again during the night to fall by morning. This seems to be the only explanation on why fallen leaves in our backyard never end.

The fridge eats most of the food we put in it. Otherwise - where's all our food I buy and cook?! Does the trunk of my car absorb some on the way home? Is there a collusion between them?

Dust and crumbs on the floors just clone themselves non-stop. Otherwise - how can the colour of the water from washing the floor and the ample contents of the vacuum cleaner be explained?

Most important of all - there's a magnetic anomaly six feet below our house: it acts as a magnet to toys and any interesting items within reach of both Chinchillas. As soon as everything in house is in place - the magnet starts working again and soon toys, my studying materials, bottles of shampoo and body wash from the shower, dental floss, chalk, shoes - are all over the place. It's a force of nature. Definitely.

Still under the impression after the weekend-y call to parents,

I chopped down almost the entire backyard. Everything that's dry was cut down to about an inch, everything that had spread like a weed got a nice creative cut down to almost bare trunks, and if only I could start the chainsaw - our backyard would have soon looked like a desert with two greenhouses and a sandbox in the middle. 

The rest of the weekend went by in a much more peaceful way though. Our Saturday date night with Von Zobel (God bless smart younger sisters!) proved that I can still somehow fit in a nice combo plate of Mediterranean food AND top it with a desert worth 2 full pieces of baklava (also - to be too lazy to fish out all pieces of bell pepper from my salad and freak out over some mild stomach seizures in the middle of the night :) ).

 

Benefited from the free entrance day in Botanic Garden, moving around with a bunch of friends (ours and Dr. Chill's :)). We gotten the taste of getting professional pictures taken in beautiful places and have been taking Sis and her camera around for 2 weeks now (God bless smart and creative young sisters!). Dr. Chill is absolutely  great at modeling, and getting around crowded public places with him while Dr. Chill Jr is kicking inside makes me feel that being a Mom of 2 very active toddlers will not be too bad as long as those two do move in the same direction and with the same speed. If they do have opposite opinions on where they should run simultaneously... I'll probably consider volunteering for live human cloning with one of the British science universities...

Speaking about getting cloned: in order to get the Audit class credit ASAP, I can take the class in University A in Maymester or in Summer, which are both in-person classes. Or I can wait until Fall and take a class online in University B. I'd personally prefer going through University A's schedule and getting it over with, and I already got their approval to take the class; but: the Maymester end date is 5 days before my due date. The Summer start date is 1 day before my due date. University B's approval process is still up in the air, and the commitment would be for the whole Fall semester, but the online class looks like a more realistic option now... Hm, brain, what do we chose? 

Oh, and I really need to start memorizing and accessing the memory more efficiently!

And how do I start with sharing my own experience and developing my own material?

And remember how to group accounts in Engagement correctly?

Come on, brain, don't shut down on me! :)

Oh, and now I know that a super cool email from a prenatal yoga center on Sunday night should read:

"We're cancelling tomorrow's class: your instructor gave birth today!" :)

Ah, why am I not surprised?

How much do women around the world pay to give birth?

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31052665


I just hope that despite the high overall costs, Switzerland and Australia's major insurance companies do cover more than 80% of childbirth expenses...

The moral (for self)  is: work harder. And smarter.

Just yesterday I had a brief conversation about the toddler weight curve

and how it has to be pushed up, or rather - there is no way it was not pushed up. For seeing a drop from 25 percentile to "a little under 15 percentile" in 1 year is a little misleading when you look at a little guy who still has his real biceps :) and has an appetite of a young growing man :) (knocking on the wood).
On the other hand, I strongly suspect he has inherited his father's genes when it comes to body and metabolism.
However, he was not born in a family committed to Vegetarianism or Paleo diet either.

And just this morning I realized my clothes size in a couple of stores I usually shop at is XS. With some XS tops actually being lose underarms - which should be impossible and unnatural given my height, body type and the fact that my ribcage was the only part of my body that did not restore to its pre-natal size after childbirth.
I am pro- adjusting standards when it comes to an average body type, body image, fashion, health, technology, education. Pret-a-porter are in the constant evolution mode, it would be stupid not to use the modern average body type for today's production (and the average body type is hardly ever used, but it's a whole different story). But when in 7 years I go from M (for length or height) to XS - the evolution must be speeding up in geometrical  progression :)
This is misleading. This is so misleading I don't see where it is going.

A week till exam, and I work as hard as possible and do as many things as possible to burn all that nervous energy, so I can calm down by night.

My boots arrived this morning, so - hurray - I am ready for colder fall and winter weather! The only problem, after my Swiss boots it's not possible to be 100% happy with any other pair - there is always some tiny little bit of improvement that could have been done. I smile at myself thinking this puts me into the risk group for women who, in their thirties, point away their pinkies saying "Oooh! You understand, I can NOT drink bad coffee! No, I - literally on the physical level - CAN NOT wear such... bad clothes!".

Eyes dry.

6 months 24 days 23 hours  20 min 31 secs
http://www.genevemarathon.org/en/races

My lungs permitting and if everything else goes as planned, one day I might do 10K, or maybe, a Genevoise :) Not the coming year, of course... But some day.

Spain. Early 20th century. Born a woman? Enjoy!

Watching Gran Hotel and between learning to say: "Donde esta la carta?"  picking up some Spanish  - I can feel hair on my head move. What's scarier to be - a helpless rightless mother or a helpless rightless baby? An unwanted, unexpected baby. Almost killed right in the process of delivery. His mother almost killed in the process of his delivery - this time deliberately. And that's  not counting a potential abortion and mother's poisoning during pregnancy - but what's new there, really?

For a few miserable weeks the infant sleeps in an old chest, is wrapped in rugs, is left alone in the room, suffers severe malnutrition, co-sleeps with his Mom, never receives any medical attention or a single vaccination, is used for blackmailing,  kidnapped, freezes up in the woods during a thunderstorm and eventually - never recovers from illness.
His elder twin brother is a bit more lucky, closer to end of the series he is still alive and only gets stolen once, and not for long, and most of the time he spends all alone in his crib, wearing multi-layered dress with frills all over and a bonnet, not playing with anything or anyone, and apparently - not being fed anymore - but this is really just a negligible detail...

A fiction movie is a fiction movie, but I can't help thinking how lucky I am: during my whole pregnancy no one tried to poison me, buy my baby or force me into abortion. Since his birth, he was never used to blackmail his real father. He has actually been living since birth with his real father, who never tried to kidnap and send him away. He has a closet and a chest full of clothes he can wear and still move around. He can have as much milk as he wants, and as much of any other food as he wants  without rolling on the floor crying: "God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"   . He has his own comfy bed to sleep in, his personal space, his toys.

I take a deep breath and breathe out with relief every time I think it's amazing that all basic needs of my child are already covered. He can focus on  growing, learning and developing, exploring the world around , getting to know himself better. I find it hard to imagine what would it feel like to spend every day with a tiny helpless person by your side, hiding him in a chest to protect, boxing up his whole life with my only concerns of his unsafety and hunger. Living hell.

When in the gloom of a massage room,

in response to your assumption that the knots in your legs are caused by carrying around a growing baby for the past 12 month, your masseuse says almost under breath:

-It's good that you have kids... I have no one to come home to...

You literally feel that no relaxation effect and no hot stones at that moment could keep you from jumping off the table and speeding off to your car. As is.