36 things i wish for my sister before she turns 37

november 10, that’s my little sister’s birthday. she’s turning 36 today. when i was in singapore in september, i bought her an early birthday present of an 18-200mm zoom lens for her canon DSLR, which i sent to her more than a month ago. that’s a good thing, because we’re currently not speaking, in an odd fit of misplaced loyalty to a complete stranger, she still doesn’t recognize that it was a huge violation of my privacy  to give out my email address to some random stranger on twitter (why didn’t she just give him my blog address, so the contact could happen more "naturally," i wonder every day...but i digress). 

ever since she told me to “get over myself” when i asked her why she did such a thing and wrote such a spiteful mail to the random stranger about my having not answered him, and which she so kindly BCCed me on, i have been trying to get over it. i will say that i am still feeling bewildered and hurt by the whole thing and not at all over it, but it is her birthday and so, inspired a bit by hula seventy, i have made a list of the 36 things i wish for her before she turns 37. she is my only sister, after all:

1. laughter every day.
   
2. a song to go with every occasion.
   
3. an ability to rest easy within herself.
   
4. to see her own worth.
   
5. to pick her loyalties wisely.
   
6. to be able to recognize her talents.
   
7. to use those talents to their utmost.
   
8. travel to exotic locales.
   
9. frequent flyer miles.
   
10.  rich, full encounters with interesting, engaging people.
    
11.  thick, full, fluffy hair.
    
12.  to appreciate what others do for her.
    
13.  to “use the difficulty.” as michael caine once said on parkinson
    
14.  cooking inspiration.
    
15.  inspiration to entertain creatively.
    
16.  quick passage through passport control.
    
17.  an ability to see herself as the good mom that she is.
    
18.  patience.
    
19.  perseverance through the difficult times that kids put you through.
    
20.  dramatic jewelry.
    
21.  great handbags.
    
22.  fabulous eyelashes and great mascara.
    
23.  did i mention daily laughter? --i think i’ll wish this twice, because it’s important.
    
24.  great love.
    
25.  building wonderful memories.
    
26.  peace within herself.
    
27.  blogging regularly.
    
28.  success in her business.
    
29.  many good friends.
    
30.  people around her who stimulate her intellectually.
    
31.  people around her who stimulate her emotionally.
    
32.  satisfaction.
    
33.  creativity every day.
    
34.  getting over the past.
    
35.  moving on to towards the future.
    
36.  happiness.

what more could one wish for one’s only sister on her birthday?

* composed on KL804 MNL-AMS, nov. 9, 2008 and cross-posted on MPC .

don't forget

1. sabin loves to watch cooking shows.
2. and gardening programs.
3. and hannah montana.
4. and she needs medicine on her foot morning and night.
5. and if you can find one of those shows where two teams try to guess what a property sold for, she likes that too.

list of lists i need to make

right now, these are the lists i need to make:

1. ways of torturing husband.
2. ways of causing bodily harm to husband.
3. ways of not getting caught for causing bodily harm to husband.
4. ways of having the willpower to keep phone turned off so husband cannot call me.
5. ways of causing pain to husband but not killing him, so he suffers. a lot.

you get the general theme.

i am so pissed.

we booked the end of next week to take the oslo ferry up to my job, which is, as we know, in oslo. thursday is the family summer party at DNV and i signed us up--me, sabin and husband. so i booked us to take the oslo ferry at 5 p.m. on wednesday, returning at 9 a.m saturday morning. this will give husband the opportunity to meet my colleagues and see my workplace and talk to the guy who hired me about a job opportunity that's listed on the DNV website.

so, husband talks to his boss, who tells him that because of the handover to Post DK, it's best if he doesn't go.

add in that thursday is a holiday in denmark. so, it's arguably ONE day off.

add in that said boss has promised husband NOTHING as far as a job is concerned when this whole outsourcing, which he has handled in what can only be characterized as an exemplary fashion, is over.

so, who does husband choose? wife who offers great opportunity for new job? or boss who says, "eeehh, i don't think it's a very good idea" but promises NADA?

hence the list above.

Springtime Dos and Don'ts

DO sit in the sunshine and write in your journal and read shel silverstein poetry to the child.

DO cut the child's toenails a bit more often.

DON'T allow her to appear in public with them like this.

DON'T wear out the child so thoroughly that she falls asleep over her banana split at aspendos on a friday night.

DO think safety first.

Husband, THIS MEANS YOU!!

DO take the child out for posh ice cream served on a block of ice on a sunday afternoon while husband saws into concrete under the stairs with an angle grinder and dusts up the entire house beyond recognition.

daily dysfunction

hmm, i'm afraid i could make a list of ways in which i'm not going to win any world's best mom awards anytime soon:

1. left child for ten days and went to singapore and manila on business (gleefully enjoyed myself).
2. left child home alone with Far, who left her home alone one day while she was sick and he had to go to a meeting. to be fair, she wasn't really that sick.
3. assuage guilt when coming home by showering child in avalanche of new clothes.
4. give child chocolate in her lunch "packse" because of lack of carrots, cucumber or tomatoes in the house (lack of which represents bad parenting by Far, who is crazy busy).
5. allowed child to wear thongs to school when it might not be quite warm enough for that.
6. taking child out of school 3 days next week to go to germany on mini-vacation.
7. buying child clothing called "miss whatever" might not promote good attitude in child.

that's enough for now, tho' i am sure there are many other things.

julie's top airline list

since i love lists, i thought i'd make a list of the top ten (memorable) airlines that i've flown in the past year or so and the reason(s) for their ranking:

1. South African. hands down the top. super funny and friendly flight attendant. great wine. amarula with the coffee. and you end up in cape town. what could be better?
2. KLM. those collector's bottles of little amsterdam houses they hand out at the end of the flight. good movie selection.
3. SAS. my "home" airline. the age of the flight attendants (they don't call it Sexy After Sixty for nothing) makes me think that i can still always fall back on that as a career if this shipping thing doesn't work out.
4. Thai. they hand out orchids at the end of the flight. and that one time we got upgraded to first class--i wanted to stage an "environmental protest--" and not ever leave that environment.
5. Singapore Airlines. they're only #5, tho' you would expect them to be higher, but that's because they've cut back a lot in the past year--no little goodie bags with toothbrush and such if it's not a night flight. but upstairs rocks on the 747s.
6. Spanair. tho' low budget, it seems so friendly and vibrant.
7. Baltic. eastern european meets scandinavian.
8. Sterling. if you have to do budget, they're pretty ok.
9. British Airways. would have ranked higher due to posh lotion and lip stuff in biz class bags, but the flight attendants are just so schoolmarmish.
10. Lufthansa. they suck. period. the food. the service. the old planes. it all bites big time. even in business.