serialdeviant.org(y)

38 years young!

Of all the pictures my mother-in-law has shown me of Neil as a baby and young child, this is my favourite. The sweater-shorts combo, the look of intense concentration-slash-pleasure… Neil hasn’t changed that much!

When infants discover their voices, do they all sound like baby dinosaurs? Just my niece, the 小恐龙? Okay, then. Heh.

I know, this is an ad, but I love the little dancing poop.

And it’s apparently a licenced version of this toy!

What’s not to like about a wee blob bopping around to an 80s classic?

When new parents bicker, kids suffer later. Note to self: when having the occasional quarrel with Neil, remind him that I am always right — this is for the baby’s good.

White until proven black: imagining race in Hunger Games: I’d like to think I deal with my race bias issues internally before opening my mouth, and I can very honestly say that although I don’t remember reading that Rue was brown-skinned (I did race through the books), the race of any characters in The Hunger Games film didn’t matter to me at all. I was far more interested by the costuming (result: I’m unconvinced) and the actors’ portrayal of the characters (i.e. being able to communicate a lot in a very limited period of time).

The more news and media I read / watch about America, the more of a joke it seems to be.

Last year when my sister was pregnant and I thought I was, too, we didn’t make our usual pilgrimage to Animal Lovers League in Pasir Ris due to questions about toxoplasmosis. This time, Neil and I did go along:

• Mum’s got cats anyway, and I don’t change the litter
• I stayed out of the cages and helped only with preparing the food
• I did not touch my face while at the animal haven
• I washed my hands after I touched the cats

It’s all about risk, isn’t it? I feel I do my best to minimise the risk of my being infected by any parasites in cat poo — I also (grudgingly) eat all my beef well-done and avoid cured meats unless they have been heated thoroughly.

Yes, I could avoid all things that could potentially cause a problem, but this means never going out and eating really, really boring food. Mush, really.

This is a bloody heavy bump.

Singapore Finds More Space for Grace, But Not on Subway: I’m visibly pregnant (and how) and while in Singapore, was ignored by two men chatting companionably on the bus — I was standing right in front of them — and on a separate occasion, an obese man brushed my sister (carrying an infant) and I aside in order to get a seat on the MRT. He sure moved quickly for a fat bastard. (And someone seated two rows behind those two guys on the bus got up and offered me his seat. I’d forgotten I looked any different until that happened, and hadn’t actually been thinking about finding a seat.)

The first night we got to Xiamen was all about Little Chilli.

Mapo tofu — I love mapo tofu

Sautéed long beans, I love you

So spicy and yummy — sautéed beef

Our second (and last) night in Xiamen was reserved for chilli-roasted fish, which has probably clogged up my arteries, but it’s all for a good cause — getting it into my belly

And then it was back to Singapore and my favourite thing in the whole world — hawker food.

My mum will only take us to Balestier’s bak chor mee, where she has bak chor mee without the bak chor

These houses look so lovely from the outside, but I can’t imagine what they must be like on the inside. They were built for GWR workers; they must be very small.

And there’s a pub on practically every corner.

Another holiday bump snap. It appears to like kicking me and moving about just as I’m settling down to sleep. It’ll probably want a lift home from clubs at unsociable hours when it’s a teenager as well.

Neil said something along the lines of this structure being unlikely to be part of a project on Grand Designs. I said it looked like it’d crumble if anyone put any weight on it.

Oh yes, I went there. Kristen sent me the trilogy for my birthday after a quick Facebook exchange on the merits of the series, and I saved it for my Singapore trip.

While not the best books I’ve ever read, they are a great introduction to dystopian fiction for a younger reader. Incredibly absorbing and a good plot meant I just kept reading and reading until I was all done. I don’t know if reviewers (at least of the film adaptation) are reading far too much into its YA literary roots — all I know is, when I was a teenager and reading YA novels, I wasn’t seeing any sort of parallels with my own experiences of growing up. I was after entertainment and being transported away from my ordinary life, which continues to be my yardstick for what I deem to be a good novel.

There’s not very much to say about The Hunger Games that hasn’t already been said many times over, except that it did take me in unexpected directions. I liked that. Would I read it again? Probably not, but I’d recommend it to others.

• Details: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, each £7.99
• Verdict: 4/5

I’ve not only read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in about a week (thanks for the birthday present, Kristen!!), I’ve also just seen the film. I warned my mother it would be quite distressing once the Reaping was over, and now she’s interested in reading the series. Yay!

I forgot to put my ‘bump’ XCF file in the cloud before we went on holiday, plus Neil’s facial expression is classic. That is what I put up with every day. Heh.

The bump is getting big enough to make me quite achey if I don’t rest enough. Deity, I feel decrepit.