All Around The World On Friday

1) School Lunches Around The World.

Pike fish, green beans and Parisian mushrooms – no wonder he’s willing to be photographed with the food haha

In Rawalpindi, Pakistan, a school principal is quoted as saying, “If we discover that a child has junk food, we ask his or her parents to please make a little effort for their child’s health.” Ouch. But not uncommon, nowadays – when did we ever have this during our time in school (though I do remember the government-issued milk packets and teeth brushing), now there are even “fruit-only” snack breaks in some schools, and whole learning units about healthy eating and the consequences of our choices…

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2) I knew it! 😀 All dogs go to Heaven, at least that’s how some people are interpreting the Pope’s latest remarks on the subject…

Cool guy.

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3) Not a link, “just” an opinion:

“As a Muslim I’m not going to apologize on behalf of the moronic man who took hostages in Sydney nor the Taliban who just massacred innocent children ‘coz I don’t see them as fellow Muslim brothers but as blady demons…” (Bahasa baku spelling for “bloody”?) Lotsa likes on her Facebook comment, some of whom I recognize as our Muslim and Buddhist/Taoist schoolmates… My best friend from secondary school always was pretty feisty 😀

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4) Scratch or bite by rare Aussie bat can apparently kill you even years later. It’s called Lyssavirus, is similar to rabies, and far as I know bats don’t like to be messed with anyways so I don’t suppose the Bat People are going to come after me for saying don’t play with them. (Even found one clinging to a shower stall in my dorm in Singapore – afraid it was lost, gently scraped it off with a piece of cardboard and went to put it outside. Had close enough look at fangs, claws and facial expression to get the hint – they really don’t like being handled.)

Growf. (pic of common vampire bat from national geographic)

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5) Bu-ut… Reptiles Too, Can Be Cute.

No Caption Necessary

Tee Hee.

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6) Public service message: What To Say If An Interviewer Asks If You Have Kids.

Really liked the suggested answer:

“Perhaps you’re asking if I’m focused on my work, can travel, or handle late hours. I can tell you that I have a very strong work ethic, regardless of what happens in my family life, and feel I can contribute a lot, particularly in the [xyz] area. I would like to know more about your goals for xyz.”

Why it’s here is because I don’t think I did that well when asked a version of this. Not too long after Rockstar was born (I went back to work a bit under 3 months after having him) I had a new boss. My boss and reporting line changed about 5 times in 3 years which, at this particular bank, appears to be quite “normal” for them and so my new boss was “interviewing” me, in the process also telling me his expectations and vision… I said “The budget (i.e. P/L target) is fine, I should be able to meet that (I did)…. just don’t give me a leadership position. (After I meet target each day), I would like to go home to my young son whom I’m still nursing.” (Ok fine, pumping milk for.)

Another senior boss had also reminded me to watch my stress and aggro levels when I got back or it might affect my breast milk. He said he’d seen it happen with his own wife when they’d had their two (now grown) kids. Both these bosses were fathers. Thing is, I’m pretty sure while they wanted their wives to put parenting (of their children) first, it’s very difficult when it’s your subordinate. I don’t mean to say it in a bad way or anything, just that this one is a toughie..

On my part, I was also a naive first-time working mother – I assumed being good enough would be enough. It’s not really. Not everyone is going to “get” that. (The ones that “got” it were high-achieving female bosses who were also mums. No matter how demanding – and this boss had a rep in the market for being demanding – if I performed, I could tell her I was off home to Rockstar. Sure, I’d get an email at midnight expecting an answer by 8am. But if I answered (and I did, because I had 90 mins to pump milk and check the blackberry) she was fine.)

My mistake was assuming everyone who is a parent could see it like this beloved mummy boss of mine could. They can’t, a bit of appearance still matters – in fact it probably matters more if you have a pretty doting father as a senior boss because then he probably remembers how he would want his own wife to give up some work stuff to focus on his children and then he’s gonna look at you and possibly assume……………..! 😀 (Ok, I’m aware this entire thing I just typed is just horribly politically incorrect and please dads, don’t scream at me, I’m just saying I’ve had dad bosses who really were like that. They even said so. Not that every household is like that, but if one parent (I didn’t say dad!) is super gung ho at work they probably expect/prefer the other parent to erm, not also be cos otherwise who’s going to parent the kids…)

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7) The Rise Of Extreme Daycare. This is really sad. It’s not for super career-focussed parents (in fact, you might have noticed a rising trend in people who can afford it choosing to stay home with kids), more like those who can’t make ends meet unless they work round the clock – double Home Depot shifts, stuff like that.

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8) JD has the skit for a change, with a little help from the Miss, titled Look Ma, No Hands! 

“Oh, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!”

“Ta-raaa! I shall balance my Little Human on my head!”

“Who needs hands?”

Ugh sorry. I wanted to post a some pics with JD’s smile. Good weekend dears, will do a really funny Rockstarism next. (Not necessarily funny haha)