Category Archives: Life

(Still) Blogging Anonymously

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anonymous_blogger

I decided to go way back to my first posts and see how long I have been blogging. I realised I would have been blogging on WordPress for 7 years this year (my blog anniversary is sometime in August) and a couple of years before that on Blogspot. Wow! That’s a long time to be blogging, that too anonymously.

I revisited this topic again when sometime last week, I came across an opinion piece in an Indian newspaper by a famous author who was arguing about the privacy issues that a famous Bollywood couple are facing over their new baby’s photo. The baby’s photo was published across media when the doting father put it up as his Whatsapp profile picture (as most parents are wont to do so) and she argued that in this day and age of digital invasion, especially for a high-profile couple like these two, it was par on course, and not something they should take seriously. I am not going to link to the article, nor mention any names, though any Indian who reads this, may know who I am talking about. This article again raised the issue of being anonymous on social media.

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Today, with oversharing being the norm, being someone who hides behind an identity on social media, I am probably an anomaly rather than the norm. With the exception of Facebook and LinkedIn where I am present as myself, I blog under a pseudonym on all other media. I guess I am not 100% anonymous here – you guys do know that I live in Singapore and have two children who are twins and are around 13/14 years old and in secondary school. But I have still not shared more details about myself or a photograph of me and my family, which seems to be what most family and lifestyle bloggers (as I see myself) have on their About me page. Maybe someone who is diligent can find out who I am, but I’d like to think that I am not someone who is famous or infamous that people are really curious to know whom I am in real life.

I know it’s quite hard for me not to build traffic to this site because I can’t just link posts from here onto any of my other social media accounts, so conversely I am actually proud of each and every new subscriber as I know you’ve come here organically and because you like what I write. This is pure validation to someone who considers herself as a closet writer.

I also want to protect BB & GG from any adverse effects of my blogging. Technology is jumping by leaps and bounds and what is probably in the realm of science fiction today may be a something very normal 10 years down the line. I want them to start and live their lives on a clean slate and don’t want any embarrassing photos or blog posts to pop up when a future employer searches their name a few years down the line when they start work or even when they apply for admissions at their dream schools. After all, even today a sweep of your social media profile is done when you are looking at hiring new employees or even students and you don’t want something awkward coming up when your name is searched.

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So there you have why I chose to blog anonymously. I am still not sure if this was the right decision or not, but it’s something I chose to do and will continue to do so moving forward.

2017 Week 7 Update

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Another week and time for another update. Nothing really happened this week except that I walked out of an interview. It’s the first time I did this. 

What happened was that I had applied to two positions in this organisation – one a fairly junior one and one a senior one (more suited to my experience). In the beginning of the week, someone called me asking me if I was still interested in the position and during the call, twice or thrice repeated the question. I found it a bit strange thinking that unless you were interested, you wouldn’t apply, right? Then I realised I had applied for two positions and when I read the job descriptions, I was sure I was being considered for the senior one as the junior one was really very junior. So I prepared for the senior position and went down for the interview. 

There, I found around 4-5 people already waiting and found it weird that they called so many people for an interview at the same time. That was red flag number 1. We were asked to go into a meeting room and there I found that with the exception of one other person, all the others were very young, maybe just out of school or perhaps trying for holiday jobs. That was red flag number 2. Then the HR person came and introduced himself and said it will be a group interview (red flag 3) and I was thrown back to my group discussion interviews after I had graduated, eons ago! Then he asked if anyone knew what the job entailed and mentioned a few things. At this point I knew I was wasting my time and decided to leave. I told the person that since I had applied for more than one position and since their email did did not specify the position, I came here thinking it was for the senior position. I then left there chalking this all up to another experience in the job search process. 

Actually I am this close to just giving up and becoming a SAHM. Interviewers and recruiters who speak to me say I have a very strong resume and experience, but I really don’t know why this is not translating into a decent job. Am I doing something wrong? Perhaps, I need to re-evaluate my search strategy. Lots to think this week.

Hope you all had a much better week than I had. May the coming week be better for all of us! Happy week….

2017 Week 6 Update

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Another week went by and nothing really to update. My days flow by one after the other and the days blur into each other. I started the week in a funk where I just didn’t feel like doing anything. Luckily I managed to get out of it by mid-week and the rest of the week was ok.

I also went to see a primary care nurse from a major hospital as part of their GP outreach diabetes programme. This included a foot and eye test and then counselling with the nurse practitioner.  I was quite ok with the talk with the nurse because, according to her, compared to the others she saw, I have more knowledge about my condition compared to others. Anyway, as suspected, I have to lose weight as my BMI is really high!

I also realised one more thing – I rarely left the house last week and should do something about it. I realise that I am slipping into depression and should do things that make me not go into it. I realise that our sense of worth is tied to our occupation and since becoming a SAHM, I feel that I am starting to feel, perhaps worthless?

Anyway, on to better thoughts and ideas – let this be a better week for everyone

2017 Week 5 Update

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Where did January go? Can’t believe that it’s already week 6 of 2017….

Nothing much happened this week which was a short week because of the Chinese New Year long weekend. S went back to work on Tuesday while the children stayed at home one more day. 

I ended January with completing something I actually randomly decided to do on New Years Day. I had decided to finish up the loads of masks I had and never used and so decided to do a 21 day challenge of masking daily. Then I upped it by adding a spot of mediation while I masked. Some days I was so tempted to just go to bed, but I determined on and ended the month doing it every single day. I am so proud of myself. I then decided to do something for myself every month as mini 21 day challenges. 

In February, I’m going to do some things exercise every day, even if it is for 15 minutes daily. I want this to be lifetime changes and not something I will do for a month. I am still masking, though every other day now and meditating daily. 

This was pretty much my week this week! Leaving you all with a gorgeous sunset I saw yesterday. 



Have a great week folks!

Parenting: Importance of Breakfast

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We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We’ve also heard the adage “Breakfast like a king, Lunch like a common man and Dine like a pauper”. Breakfast which literally means breaking the fast between dinner and the morning is one meal which should not be missed.

 

There are reports from the Healthy Child website which say there are around 20 – 30% of teens who do not eat breakfast before going to school.

 

The first meal of the day is very important in providing energy to your teen for their activities in school. School work takes up a lot of mental energy and those who don’t fill up adequately before going to school may find their energy dwindling down before recess and a chance to eat food.

 

I am very particular that BB & GG eat something to fuel up before school and so far they’ve not disappointed me here. But somehow since school started this year, they both on different days would decide that they are full from the previous night’s dinner and so don’t want breakfast. Nothing I say would make them change their mind. It’s not because they sleep on and wake up late and so there’s time for breakfast. They are ready much earlier than S but would prefer to use their phones to eating, though on days when they do eat breakfast, they do both simultaneously.

I usually give BB & GG the analogy of a car with no fuel which can’t run for long on reserve fuel when they don’t want to eat breakfast before going to school. I also believe that without a healthy and hearty breakfast you will not be able to concentrate in class which will hamper performance in school. This is because those who miss breakfast lack the glucose which is needed for neurotransmitters to function properly in the body.

I sometimes suspect most teens (and BB & GG) skip breakfast as a way to reduce or control their weight. This tactic actually backfires on them as a study found that teens who ate breakfast daily had a lower Body Mass Index or BMI and gained less weight compared to those who skipped breakfast.

 

So this, in essence, is why breakfast is the most important meal in a day, not just for teens, but for everyone. Does your teen skip breakfast? What do you do to make him/her eat a good breakfast before school?