Friday, October 29, 2010

Halloween

Many people have asked me if I am planning to do anything special for Halloween and my answer has been no. Sure, I am a rather lazy mother in that I try not to plan things which Winston might be too young to appreciate anyways. But in all honesty, I have always been a bit anti-Halloween.

There are 3 aspects to Halloween that I don’t like:

First, it encourages kids to eat candies. I was unlucky to have been born in the austere Mao-era of China, but I was lucky to have not been exposed to sweets often in my childhood. As a result, to this day, I don’t eat candies or sweet things in general. In a country with abundant access to candies, it will be hard enough for me to keep Winston away from such junk food. And I certainly don’t want Halloween’s help....

Second, I hate horror films, and I genuinely think that it is not a good idea for little kids to be exposed to scary things. And Halloween is all about scary costumes and masks. Americans’ fascination with horror does baffle me. Doesn’t everyone want to sleep soundly without waking up in a nightmare?

Third, I dislike holidays that encourage comparisons. Who has better costumes? What are you going to be this year? How much candy did you get? Etc, etc. There is enough peer pressure already!

London

I went to London for a business conference. Since the conference started on Monday morning, I flew in on Sunday morning. I have always loved London and certainly could not pass up the chance to see a bit of London with a few extra hours. A friend of mine who works at Schlumberger near Oxford came up to London and we visited the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, had a fusion Indian lunch and then a light Japanese dinner. The hotel (City Inn Westminster) is only a few minutes from Westminster Abbey and Parliament, and the conference took place at Queen Elizabeth II conference center which is next to the Abbey. While I missed Winston and worried about him a little bit, I did enjoy the few days in London despite a very hectic conference schedule meeting with over 30 companies in two days.

One of the observations my friend made after living in the UK for a while was that “there are many more doors”. I said that I had not noticed it. Then I started noticing it! I think it is due to the British sense of propriety that they have so many more doors, especially in publich bathrooms. I would open one door, only to realize that it was leading to another door. I suppose this type of arrangement would ensure that no one would be caught in an embarrassing state!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Winston Got Sick Again!

Winston got sick again! Maybe he was healthy for about 5 days after he recovered from the last cold. I could not believe my own eyes when I saw him with a runny nose. Because of the stuffy nose, he did not sleep much during his nap and went to sleep at 7:30 pm. Then around 9:30 pm he suddenly got up from his crib, started coughing, and when I opened the door, I saw him holding onto the crib railing throwing up his dinner. Throughout all this, he hardly cried. I felt so sorry for him. He’s still just a baby.

After we cleaned up his crib, I put him down and he immediately closed his eyes and went back to sleep. He was so exhausted. I told a friend of mine about it, and she said that she really felt for me. She has 3 boys, and with each one of them having to build up an immune system, I imagine that the mother must by necessity develop a heroic personality. I guess I ought not to complain about my own suffering seeing my son sick with a cold.

If a toddler gets sick 12 times on average every year, does it mean that I have another 10 to look forward to until September 2011?

Friday, October 1, 2010

Revisit "Anna Karenina"

I watched the BBC adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” when I was a kid. I don’t remember much except that my grandmother and mother both found Anna unbearable and Karenin likable. Their comments were, “What’s wrong with Anna? Karenin is such a nice guy. And that Count Vronsky is a rascal for sure.”

Somehow, I thought of watching it again when I found it on Netflix. No wonder I did not remember a thing from before –I could not have possibly possessed the intellect or experience to truly understand it. Tolstoy’s ability to understand human emotions is truly astounding. It is almost as if he lived through Anna’s experience. Maybe it has to do with the fact that he was gay after all, which made it possible for him to get a pulse on a woman’s feelings.

Yes, indeed I can see why my grandmother and my mother could not stand Anna. She was after all impetuous, impossible and unstable in the end. Yet at the same time, as a grown woman, I can also understand Anna and truly feel sorry for her, as her fate was inevitable. Nicola Pagett’s portrayal of Anna was terrific. Interestingly, I remember my mother telling me that she flipped through all the sections on Levin when she was reading the book. And here I was, fast-forwarding all the sections on Levin when I was watching the TV series. I really found him tedious. I suppose that he represented an individual with political ideals, whereas Anna was just an individual struggling with her personal happiness. However, ultimately what touches me is not abstract lofty ideals – it is always intensely personal and individualized feelings.

That is why we live – to experience a whole gamut of emotions through our experiences on earth. Perhaps I used to fool myself into thinking that our human existence is meant to make a big difference to the world, to the planet and to the whole universe. But now I realize that fundamentally the only thing that ever touches me viscerally is palpable and understandable human emotion. And Tolstoy was a master in capturing it with his masterpiece “Anna Karenina”.