A Suburban Adventure
Posted: May 20, 2012 Filed under: Catch-all, Foodie Scene 2 Comments »A really great Saturday. We went to a San Diego gem, Carnita’s Snack Shack. Hubs had a pork sandwich, I had carnitas tacos, beet terrine, season fries, corn slaw Coke with real sugar in a glass bottle. Then I tried their bacon brittle ice cream sandwich. It was…ok. But it wasn’t bacon’s fault. t still love bacon!
Here’s a picture of the snack shack at another visit. It looks like a hole in the wall from the front, but it’s an A+ dining location from the menu.
And here’s my bacon ice cream sandwich from tonight.
After that we decided to have a little adventure. We went home, got our jackets on and grabbed our flashlights and had a little walk in the park with our flashlights to lead the way. I wanted to capture that feeling for Mina AND for me, of being up and out way past her bedtime, of experiencing the exhilaration of being out after dark, enjoying the stars peeking through the clouds. Mina saw a question mark pattern formed by the twinkling sky gems and I had a feeling of being young again. An adventure in the suburbs. It’s not movie quality adventure, and it’s pretty tame by any urban standards, but it’s our little adventure. And most importantly, we had fun.
Children Play Differently Now
Posted: May 17, 2012 Filed under: Pretty Pikatoors 2 Comments »There are multiple sources out there that children spend as much as 8 hours of media consumption a day in America. That’s a lot of television, iPhone/iPad games, video game consoles, etc. The children growing up today in America aren’t growing up the same way children just one generation ago grew up.
I didn’t spend all my childhood in America. It was partially split between Philippines and Canada. But I do remember, in both countries, playing a lot outdoors. Games like tag, patintero, chinese garters, red rover, dodge ball. I used to ride my bike for miles in Canada. Through the woods, getting muddied, going downhill, heading to playgrounds to get dirty and sweaty and do neighborhood things with other neighborhood children.
It was a lot of fun. It was very tactile, experiential. Studies after studies have shown that children learn a lot about the world, about how to relate to others, through play. If children are mostly playing video games, indoors, nose pointed to a console or device of some kind, what are they missing out on? How socially able are they to navigate this world? I don’t know the answer.
For me, I don’t ever want Mina spending 8 hours a day in front of a TV, etc. The potential is there; she wants to be a media consumer but we don’t allow it. She isn’t allowed to watch shows except on weekends. We don’t let her watch regular TV with commercials. Later on, when she hears other classmates/friends raving about a show she might insist on watching live Tv with commercial. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
For now as much as possible, we go outdoors, and I encourage her to get dirty.
What’s The Purpose of Life?
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: Catch-all, Pretty Pikatoors 1 Comment »The other night my husband asked me what I thought was the purpose of life. I paused before answering. I don’t have these kind of hand-wringing, agonizing questions about life. I’m a very practical person actually, when it comes to life (we won’t discuss the expensive dress I just bought). Do I have a job, can I pay my bills, is there food, can we still have some fun? As long as those needs are met, I’m not looking for a bigger purpose. Which is the complete opposite of how my husband approaches life. Some people need a bigger purpose, and are unhappy if they don’t feel they are living up to that purpose.
In reply to my husband, I told him honestly. “I think the purpose of life is to live it.”
I thought we’d get into a debate, him questioning me again about what I ultimately wanted to achieve in life, me getting annoyed with him for not just being happy with life as is. We get into these back and froths a lot. I’m not saying that one shouldn’t have goals, or that one shouldn’t strive for something. My point is, I don’t believe in the thinking pattern of “If only I achieve this, then I’d be happy.” I believe in the opposite. If I’m happy and I’m doing everything I can to achieve my goals, then I’ll get there. And if I don’t get there, I may end up at a place just as fabulous. But I don’t want to be the person who can’t appreciate where I am because I’m to busy regretting where I haven’t been.
My husband surprised me though. He widened his eyes and said “That’s what the Dalai Lama said!”
He had recently watched an interview of the Dalai Lama held in our local university of UCSD. Apparently, the Dalai’s response to the question of the purpose of life was essentially the same thing. Life is for living. Nice! The Dalai Lama and I are just like two peas in a pod!
I am no guru, no Dalai Lama, I don’t boast to be an expert on anything, but I do know that I’ve been happy in my life, as opposed to others who have not been as happy. Happiness is a complicated thing. It’s partly taught, partly in the personality, it’s chemically-linked and once it’s hard-wired into your neurons, it’s very very difficult to change your pattern of response to situations. I don’t have the answer, but maybe an awareness that happiness is a choice is a start. That living and enjoying life, and that the Be Do Have approach rather than the “If I could only have this thing, then I’ll BE happy and DO all these things I have always wanted.” – is more conducive to one’s sanity.
A Day Around Town
Posted: April 14, 2012 Filed under: Pretty Pikatoors 1 Comment »Mina is an only child. I want to follow her up but discussion after discussion, my husband and I come to the conclusion that we should wait. We have certain measurable goals that must happen before we have another. I don’t want to wait, but that is the decision for now. So I like to schedule playdates with Mina. She has plenty of friends from ballet and school. The school kids she sees outside of their learning environment during birthday parties usually. The ballet kids are the one she usually has playdates with. This was a playdate with one of her ballet friends.
After lunch we all headed to the water fountain by the food court, where the kids usually shed their clothing, and run around dancing with the water coming out in spurts.
After that we had ice cream at the food court. My baby girl looked so big at the counter waiting patiently for her ice cream of choice.
We ended the playmate at a nearby bookstore. Maybe she won’t remember this day. It was a great day but she is four, so she may forget. But I have pictures of her smiling a mile a minute.
Chats with the Chickadee
Posted: April 10, 2012 Filed under: Chats with the Chickadee Leave a comment »Mina is getting to be a big girl, with the ability to follow the thread of longer and more mature conversations. She has opinions, a good memory, and a good sense of humor. Here are our little chats, for her to laugh about later (and me!).
Me: Mina promise me you’re gonna something special with your life.
Mina: Okay, I will. But like what?
Me: Like, whatever the biggest adventure is for you. What do you think that might be?
Mina: Hmmm..I’m not sure. I’ll think about it and get back to you.
Mina: Mommy! You have to help me clean up my room. It’s too much mess!
Me: (Not budging) No you made that mess and you’re gonna have to clean it up yourself. Don’t panic. Just clean it up little by little.
Mina: Little by little? Ok.
She is successful at this. A day later I notice her cleaning up after her crayons. She is picking them up one by one.
Me: Mina you know you’re gonna be faster if you pick it up by the handful.
Mina: But Mom, remember what you told me before? I’m cleaning it up little by little.
Such a fun creature. It’s almost as if she’s magical or something. 
