If you haven't looked into it now might be a good time to start figuring out how to vote in the Federal election. I am in India and contacted the consulate and they said:
In order to vote, you will need to submit a Federal Post Card
Application (FPCA), which you can download from the Federal Voting
Assistance Program at http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/onlinefpca.html. If you
wish to participate in the primaries, be sure to include your political
party preference on the FPCA, otherwise you will not be sent any voting
materials.
In the interest of expediting your application, be sure to check for
your state's electronic submission options here:
http://www.fvap.gov/ivas/fvap_state_menu.html.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
OMG
DONUTS in Bangalore. Must go VERY SOON.
thank you firangi squirrel
http://www.thedonutbaker.com/index.asp
thank you firangi squirrel
http://www.thedonutbaker.com/index.asp
Not anyone's mother
According to Purple Women http://purplewomenblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/purple-women-get-bloggy-on-november-15.html
it is childfree women blogging day! It never occured to me that there is a day for me, even though at least here in Bangalore we just got finished with children's day and there is mother's day and father's day. And really there isn't a day that celebrates NOT having kids.
In SF it felt like most of the people around me did not have kids, and here it is the opposite, it seems like almost everyone has kids. Our apt bldg is filled with kids, and our housecleaner can not stop harping on the you should have babies theme song. In the US the pressure on me to have kids was non-existent, but in India I think the pressure is huge. Somehow I ended up reading a bunch of mom blogs here. I don't even come across the childfree by choice thing here. And so many of the people writing the blogs refer to themselves and kidname's Mom, and I feel like their identity is so wrapped up in their kids
Anyway, I love my life without kids. It feels free to me. I am free to do my art projects or be creative in lots of ways. No custody battles where someone uses my behavior against me. No raging debates on how to raise a kid. The energy leftover from not having all of that is very nice. I get to be online lots. I only have to support myself. I'm in my relationship because I want to be, not for the kids. Sometimes it feels like so much in society is done for the sake of the children. I wish I could get away from that.
It is rare that I think about it, really, but it is such a huge decision. And it is so good for me. I am happy to have nieces and nephews and other kids I am friends with, but at the end of the day, they aren't mine. I like the adult life.
it is childfree women blogging day! It never occured to me that there is a day for me, even though at least here in Bangalore we just got finished with children's day and there is mother's day and father's day. And really there isn't a day that celebrates NOT having kids.
In SF it felt like most of the people around me did not have kids, and here it is the opposite, it seems like almost everyone has kids. Our apt bldg is filled with kids, and our housecleaner can not stop harping on the you should have babies theme song. In the US the pressure on me to have kids was non-existent, but in India I think the pressure is huge. Somehow I ended up reading a bunch of mom blogs here. I don't even come across the childfree by choice thing here. And so many of the people writing the blogs refer to themselves and kidname's Mom, and I feel like their identity is so wrapped up in their kids
Anyway, I love my life without kids. It feels free to me. I am free to do my art projects or be creative in lots of ways. No custody battles where someone uses my behavior against me. No raging debates on how to raise a kid. The energy leftover from not having all of that is very nice. I get to be online lots. I only have to support myself. I'm in my relationship because I want to be, not for the kids. Sometimes it feels like so much in society is done for the sake of the children. I wish I could get away from that.
It is rare that I think about it, really, but it is such a huge decision. And it is so good for me. I am happy to have nieces and nephews and other kids I am friends with, but at the end of the day, they aren't mine. I like the adult life.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
books and ovens
I am reading this book that I think has a lot of good ideas on making a relationship work better. The title is The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman - not that we are having problems, but better to learn skills while there aren't huge problems. It has very concrete things to say, not so woo woo and it is more than just actively listening.
Yesterday we bought a toaster oven! Looks like we will be here awhile longer and not having an oven was so sad. Last night we had baked potato and chicken cooked in the oven. I am thinking of trying cookies! It is nice to have a break from boiled and fried and variations on that.
Yesterday we bought a toaster oven! Looks like we will be here awhile longer and not having an oven was so sad. Last night we had baked potato and chicken cooked in the oven. I am thinking of trying cookies! It is nice to have a break from boiled and fried and variations on that.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Totoro and friends
If you would like to go to Studio Ghibli and you live in say San Francisco, then you should try to get tickets before you go to Tokyo. We did not, and all the wkends were completely sold out. It is closed on Tuesday, so we ended up going on a Weds. The best way to get tickets is at a convenience store called Lawsons. They have a machine that sells tickets. It is not an easy machine to figure out if you do not read Japanese, so what we did was have the hotel write a note to Lawson's saying these people would like two tickets to Studio Ghibli on Weds at 12. You have to pick a time. It takes about 4 hours to really thoroughly go through the museum. If you get there a little later than your time, it is ok. The station we went to is Mitaka and you can there from Shibuya pretty fast on the JR line, but we had tickets for the other lines so we went from Shibuya to Kudanshita on the Hanzomon line and then switched to Tozai line to Mitaka and then switched to a bus (that was covered in SG characters at bus stop number 9, down a level from the trains, 300Y or so) - that took about 90 minutes.
There is a lot of things suited for kids at the studio - a catbus to crawl in and around, small doorways to go through. And at the end we watched a 20 minute film that was just great, that we had never seen before, but with all the wonder/joy that is Studio Ghibli. There is a lot at the studio that teaches you how animation is done - very informative. The place is maze like and it feels like wonderful things are all around. We had lunch at the takeaway stand since the sit down restaurant was so crowded. We had hot dog, 3 kinds bean curry with rice, beer, apple juice, white milk ice cream and chocolate ice cream. There is also a wonderful souvenir shop, that some people said doesn't have everything, but I thought they had lots.
There is a lot of things suited for kids at the studio - a catbus to crawl in and around, small doorways to go through. And at the end we watched a 20 minute film that was just great, that we had never seen before, but with all the wonder/joy that is Studio Ghibli. There is a lot at the studio that teaches you how animation is done - very informative. The place is maze like and it feels like wonderful things are all around. We had lunch at the takeaway stand since the sit down restaurant was so crowded. We had hot dog, 3 kinds bean curry with rice, beer, apple juice, white milk ice cream and chocolate ice cream. There is also a wonderful souvenir shop, that some people said doesn't have everything, but I thought they had lots.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Back in Bangalore
All the way around the world and now back in Bangalore. Just in time for a state holiday (Nov 1).
Trying to reclaim the apartment from the dust and bugs. Looks like it has been raining a lot here - roads that looked ok when we left look a lot worse now. had dosa and filter coffee at our local kamat hotel for $2. And a great breakfast this morning at Infinitea -real pancakes and delightful tea from Assam with warmed up milk plus had a chance to read newspapers, since they haven't started arriving yet (but at least there wasn't a month's worth sitting there). Internet isn't working so well at home so contact will still be sparse til we sort that out. Paid the electricity bill - 2 months worth, paid the internet bill and vacuumed the rooms with carpets. Had pasta at home last night, which was nice.
While we were in Sydney we put our clocks forward an hour, I was surprised to see US isn't changing their clocks til this upcoming wkend. I would've thought everyone would do it at the same time. People in Sydney were so friendly. I had a fabulous time there - saw people we know, ate at Bourke St Bakery, went to Brett Whiteley's Studio: http://www.brettwhiteley.org/the_studio/introduction
I love artist's studios, and this one was especially enjoyable. Had a great lunch at Bird Cow Fish (though maybe I wish it was Pig Cow Bird). Sydney was definitely an easy city for us. Strangers were even friendly. Ate at the customs house, went to Watson's Bay.
Trying to reclaim the apartment from the dust and bugs. Looks like it has been raining a lot here - roads that looked ok when we left look a lot worse now. had dosa and filter coffee at our local kamat hotel for $2. And a great breakfast this morning at Infinitea -real pancakes and delightful tea from Assam with warmed up milk plus had a chance to read newspapers, since they haven't started arriving yet (but at least there wasn't a month's worth sitting there). Internet isn't working so well at home so contact will still be sparse til we sort that out. Paid the electricity bill - 2 months worth, paid the internet bill and vacuumed the rooms with carpets. Had pasta at home last night, which was nice.
While we were in Sydney we put our clocks forward an hour, I was surprised to see US isn't changing their clocks til this upcoming wkend. I would've thought everyone would do it at the same time. People in Sydney were so friendly. I had a fabulous time there - saw people we know, ate at Bourke St Bakery, went to Brett Whiteley's Studio: http://www.brettwhiteley.org/the_studio/introduction
I love artist's studios, and this one was especially enjoyable. Had a great lunch at Bird Cow Fish (though maybe I wish it was Pig Cow Bird). Sydney was definitely an easy city for us. Strangers were even friendly. Ate at the customs house, went to Watson's Bay.
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