Soul Highway

Married to a Squirt

I just got off the phone with my friend Rose who I haven't seen or talked to in weeks. She has recently been offered a full-time position and, as expected, is now swamped with work. For 30 minutes or so we whine about having too much to do nowadays and too little time left in our hands. For one, if you're living with a male (i.e. husband, son), cleaning becomes a constant and repetitive process. Otherwise your kitchen will look as though you've been living with or raided by cavemen. It so happens that Rose and I both like our kitchens pristine.

I miss having a maid around more than I miss my family, Rose complained. Unfortunately, in addition to having a house to clean, Rose also has a backyard. And a couple of dogs. I didn't have a maid back in the Philippines but I had my mother. And what a luxury it was coming home from work with piping hot breakfast waiting on the table. For about two years before I left for the US in 2006, I was a pampered princess. My mother's words. Not that I didn't do anything at home (I was the cleaning czar - always have been), but I could prop up my feet after work and not worry about dinner. That is singlehood bliss.

On my bus ride home I make a mental inventory of our freezer. Will it be fish tonight, or chicken? Rice or pasta? Shoot, do we have onions left? And since you can't feed your family macaroni and cheese (I found a very good recipe, by the way) every night, cooking demands creativity. That in itself is another challenge. The fact that I have written about the joys - and pains - of cooking more than once on this blog is a testament to this whole new arena called marriage.

Since we are on the topic of whining (which the husband says women are predisposed to), I am currently reading Doris Lessing's "The Cleft." When I grabbed this book from Borders, I didn't even read the back cover to get an idea of what the book was about. "The Cleft" is surprisingly hard to put down and weirdly interesting. It is hard not to feel a little self-conscious when reading it on the train as Lessing throws out the words sex and orgy, plus several obvious metaphors of private parts, page after page. Harder still if you're sitting next to someone reading the Bible in the morning. What is the book all about? Once upon a time the women, the Clefts, ruled the land. And then came along the Squirts, aka the men, and all hell broke loose. Lessing's fictional historical account of our mass population echoes what we have long suspected about each other - women are naggers and men are careless, insensitive and often short in foresight. If you're interested in the battle of the sexes in fishskins, you will probably like this book.

Quotes! Quotes!

I thought it would be nice to feature some so-called "life questions" our 10-year-old resident asks out of the blue as a testament to his being, well, 10 and constantly poking around the whys and hows.

While browsing around Borders, he caught sight of the For Dummies instructional books (i.e., Quicken 2008 for Dummies, Healthy Aging for Dummies) and asked:

"Don't people feel offended when they buy that book?"

Short weekends and PMS don't mix

Weekends should be a day longer. Especially if you have PMS. On Sunday I basically pigged out on ice cream, Ruffles and M&M's (the only time of the month I indulge my sweet tooth, if any) while falling into a state of catatonia watching crappy shows on TV. I can't believe I stayed awake till the credits rolled on "Because I Said So." I must have been that bored. Watching Mandy Moore act is as interesting as sitting with a group of old women doing needlework. Anyone remember her super-extended dying scene in "A Walk to Remember?" Raise your hands all of you who silently wished a lunatic let loose had blown the brains out of Moore's character on her deathbed. As for Diane Keaton, how many times do you think would she reprise the same role before she keels over and gets sick of her predictability? For those who went and paid to see to this movie, I feel sorry for you.

On Saturday, I brought the kids (Re'Sean and his friend DJ) to ESPNZone in DC for some fun. We (read: husband and I) were supposed to go to Dave & Buster's in Maryland along with the boys but he couldn't escape from work soon enough. After blowing off about $40 on video games, we finally decided to sit down and eat. But not before an excruciatingly long 1.5-hour wait, which forced all three of us to entertain ourselves with the game "I Spy."

As usual, I forgot to bring my camera. (I ended up taking a very, very short and grainy video using my phone.) Weatherwise, Saturday was not too bad. It was a little windy, but comfortable enough for short walks. Today, Tuesday, was a different matter. Temperature in the high 60s! Spring has finally arrived! I actually walked to the Metro station from work without a jacket on. There was general relief on the faces of the commuting public, as if we've been snowed out the whole winter. Which wasn't the case, but barring unshaved armpits by women in tank tops and exposed dirty nails of feet on flip-flops, who doesn't like warmer weather?